


Smooth Like Velvet

by ECCougar



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:09:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 87,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27229384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ECCougar/pseuds/ECCougar
Summary: Kagome doesn't feel like her life is complacent necessarily, but when a deep voiced golden throated author begins a podcast she can't get enough of, she wonders if there isn't some lacking a certain je ne sais quoi in her life.*Sesshoumaru takes up a surprising new hobby, unintentionally but gratefully drawing the diametric force to him that has come to wreck havoc on his currently peaceful existence.
Relationships: Higurashi Kagome/Sesshoumaru
Comments: 99
Kudos: 158





	1. Golden Oldies

**Author's Note:**

> A plunnie plucked from the depths of the Sess/KagCitrus18+ Channel and dedicated to those that helped refine the idea!

She nibbled at another corner of the homemade chocolate truffles she’d made as she tuned into the podcast with embarrassing swiftness, excited for tonight’s foray into this man’s wicked voice. If not for pervy Eri’s suggestion, she wouldn’t have even considered listening to the smut peddler she was currently tuned into, but an odd conversation sitting at the WacDonalds table over fries had her interested piqued. With Eri, she spoke with her hands, waving them wildly as she attempted to sway all the girls to her side.

_ “I guarantee, you’ll be gushing after the first ten seconds of listening to this guy just TALK.”  _ She’d insisted.  _ “He could be giving you the recipe for haggis, and you’d still have wet panties.” _

Her enthusiasm, while grossly over-indulgent, was right on the money to Kagome’s dismay. This was the third week she had tuned into and now it wasn’t even a matter of maybe she’d catch it on her downtime - no, this was now an entire ritual. Mismatched candles had been settled around her bathroom and tub, all lit in different scents as it gave off a flickering low-light gleam. The truffles sat on a bathtub tray alongside a stemless glass of merlot she’d originally purchased last week, the other half of the bottle sitting beside the tub within easy reach for refills. Her toilet was covered with a bath sheet, and the bluetooth speaker she’d purchased last week had been beautifully tuned to get the bass just right so his voice bounced off the bathroom tile like a coin off the tight ass of a taiyoukai she once knew so many years ago. Now that she had everything set up perfectly, she hoped to have the same cum-worthy experience she’d had last week at his nimble goadings.

Somehow, while he was articulating all the thrusting those superbly described main characters were doing, her fingers had found their way to her intimates, and the gentle playing alone paired with the silky deepness of his voice had her near tears until he was finished speaking. 

Never in her life had she managed to achieve that kind of an orgasm on her own, and by the time she came back down, floating into the lukewarm rose scented epsom salts, he was bidding his biddies fair well with a promise of more on the horizon should they tune in next week for more adventures into future’s past with him. And here she was, chocolate laid out, hot water pouring, and the other half of the bottle of merlot she’d purchased last week ready for round two. 

Warm water tickled at the edges of her thighs when she noticed the live streaming event had begun and she immediately popped in, connecting her speaker and setting her phone aside. Her hair was wrapped in a pink towel, foot resting on the handle of the tub ready to turn the hot water off for when it reached just the right level, and the booming bass of the man’s voice slid into her bathroom like a welcome visitor.

“This evening’s journey takes us back into time, our brown eyed beauty with doe-ish grace teasing our hero as he puts an end to the most miserable of foes. Will our man give in to the temptation of the raven haired vixen, seductive as she is? Or will he hold out, hold on to his sanity, and not give in to her feminine whiles again?” He paused, and she could hear the delicate intake of breath before his mouth whispered closer to the microphone. “Wouldn’t you like to find out, darlings?” 

Kagome shuddered, feeling the heat of warm breath caress her ear as her lashes fluttered closed, and a small, playful smile enveloped her features. Her dexterous foot managed to turn the water off, and now it was just his voice shrouding the room in that mysterious whisper.  
“We find our man standing at the edge of a cliff, eyes closed as he takes in the spray of the sea. Long lashes peppered with salt water lay across his cheeks as the wind ruffles the length of his hair, tossing the long mane aside as he inhales deep.”

The reader paused, inhaling, exhaling, and Kagome followed suit. 

“It is the crashing of the waves that has him looking over the vastness of the ocean, marveling at the color the sun under the water creates, when a gentle hand on his wrist startles him out of thought. ‘At some point, we must speak of what happened..’ She insists. Barely glancing down, he hides the swallow of his nerves that she might see only his strength as she had in days before. ‘We cannot undo what has been done. And we cannot promise you a love that does not exist.’ He is resolute, even as the look on her face is one of pain, deep hurt. There is a berating of himself; it is not hurt he meant to achieve, but mere honesty. This is not the way of women though, and she releases her gentle hold as she turns away from him.”

The reader paused, and Kagome’s browns knit, feeling the woman’s struggle. 

"Cheers to that girl. Just walk away.” She muttered to herself as she sipped the wine in the glass and took another bite of chocolate. 

“He wants to reach out, tell her what she’s done, how she’s bewitched him beside himself, but no words come from his stoic mouth... And his silence never gives her a reason to pause; she only does so out of the same need to bear in all honesty the truth of her feelings. ‘I’ll never understand the stubbornness of you fools.’ And with her statement she is walking with a haste down the way she’d come, the sea hiding the salt of her tears on the wind. He stares after her for hours. Though gone from sight, she is not gone from his mind.”

Kagome’s heart hitched hopefully, taking another sip of her wine.

“The lustrous veil of the black crowned head, the sweeping depth of fawn colored eyes, the sweet part of her mouth, petal soft lips praising the Gods for the offering received in their throes. There is no way for him to rid himself of her, for she is in his fondest memories. There she remains, distracting him as the grip on the hilt of a worn sword tightens and he makes for his enemy’s camp.”

Kagome bit her lower lip, closing her eyes at the description and running a fingertip over her mouth, pretending to be that beauty in his description. She could feel the longing in his voice, like he’d loved and lost himself the same beauty. It stood to reason, many authors pulled emotional depth from personal experiences, which made it that much easier to draw readers (or in this case listeners) in. Though she was fairly certain that plot was not the only reason most ladies tuned in. Who wouldn’t want to be caressed and loved by that auspicious voice?

“The journey feels both long and withered, yet all to brief as his knuckles whiten on his weapon. Entering the camp on his own is no small feat - it is a sign of the greatest audacity, an assurance of ascendancy. He knows his strength and it is unmatched, even if his foe is a fearsome devil with the might of thousands of hammers striking all at once. His arrival is heralded by the army as they murmur and whisper to one another, some in mockery as though being torn asunder by the woman who has strings attached to his heart is something worth the flattery of being insulting. No, he knows the woman beneath him only nights before holds power in her own name, and smirks in those derisive visages with his own private dogma.”

Kagome’s eyes slide shut as her hands reach over her thighs, the words bouncing around in her chest heavily, almost personally. Swallowing, as heat crept up in her thighs, she reached out and grabbed another sip of wine, indulging in the rest of a truffle as she played along her own thighs. Truthfully, she wanted to know how Eri came about finding this gem. Where in the hell had she been that she’d come across this kind of a voice? She rarely ever read books, let alone listened to them... Maybe she’d text her after this episode to see what she knew about the reader.

“Our hero is met with a boisterous laugh, and it is thunderously reverberated through his foe’s army. ‘What fool is this at my tent this night? One with a death wish?’ He manages to fend off the first strike of the would-be assassin’s blade, the ring of impassioned steel bringing the mirthfulness to an end. When the devil opens his mouth for blaspheming again, the assassin merely strikes with his secondary niigata and this time bites into the flesh of the devil’s armored forearm. It sinks into the protective armor like butter, tearing through skin and bone as tissue paper. Another flurry of strikes and the army grows nervous for it’s head, who huffs and puffs at the onslaught.”

Kagome had a tendency to put faces to the characters of the reader’s story she was familiar with. For the Assassin, despite her deep love for Inuyasha, she tended to put Sesshoumaru’s face in. It matched perfectly, as the Assassin was usually a man of few words. And while she wasn’t always putting herself in the heroine’s shoes, she couldn’t help the occasional fantasy of being swept away by a white haired demon despite herself. 

“An overconfident Assassin misses one of the devil’s swipes; his cheek now awash with blood dripping down his uniform and both are bleeding. Stepping back for the briefest of seconds, he makes a decision - the sooner the battle ends, the better. He manages a swift blow to the devil’s neck, cutting through half of it and decapitating his foe enough it is a murderous rage that blows through the valley of his foe’s army. They turn on him as quickly, and the Assassin fights for his life. One man becomes four, and four become twelve. Bodies pile up around him until there is nobody left to fight for the honor of a fallen general, and the Assassin, while exhausted, is victorious against his enemy.”

That was most definitely a Sesshoumaru moment. She could see the taiyoukai not even bothering to break a sweat while he worked, let alone admit to any kind of exhaustion though.

“Retreating to the quiet of the wilderness that calls him a beloved son, he finds a peaceful place along a riverside fraught with cat-tails and reeds. The fish spring from its depths in glee and the hushed whisper of the unseen wind rushes through the trees where he settles to wrap his wounds and let them heal. Sleep takes him, but not before a familiar scent lingers on the susurrant winds. She is there. He can sense it.”

Kagome swallowed, sitting up attentively in the bath, sipping at her glass.

“And like a dream, he can feel the fluttering malleability of her fingers over his battled broadened shoulders. There is a shudder, a sigh as he fabricates the symphony of her touch on his campaign steeled body. He knows in her hands, he is a refugee and delighted at her mercies, finding solace in the rustle of her breath on his skin. It makes his heart pound as a drum of war, full of purpose and longing. He awakens in a long enough moment to imbibe in the warmth of her thighs over his own lap, the softest of touches on her lips with his own, before he wraps her in the safety of his arms.”

Kagome’s eyes slid closed as she saw it all in her minds eye, painting this fiction with painful realness. Would he smell like the ash after a fire? Maybe a winter storm? Perhaps the ozone before lighting striking... And would those fingertips be calloused, worn rough or smooth from battle? Her nails, bit into her hips as she imagined, the hand on her wineglass coming to rest under the water over the mound of her nether, playing with the carefully groomed thatch of trimmed hair there. 

The breath in her lungs felt too hot, and breathing was fanning the flame warmer.

“She calls to her Assassin, fingers now deftly swiping the mark on his cheek, trying to ensure his health but is unable to rouse him from slumber. Too fatigued is he to answer his siren’s call, and before long he drowns in a deep blackness.” He pauses, as do Kagome’s hands on her body. “A short chapter, but we are afraid it is time to bid you farewell again until the next reading.” 

Frustration poured over Kagome. While this was a possibility, she was hoping for a little more action. Maybe if she replayed last week’s she’d get the same heat... Sighing, Kagome slipped a little deeper into the water, blowing bubbles to herself.

“Would you like to meet the author? Come down to the book shop on Fourth and Main and grab a copy of his book!” An all-too excited voice announced, with a date that was easily two months in the future. Kagome pulled the plug on the tub, her fantasy shot to hell as she texted Eri about the chapter. Clearly, with the angry face Eri was texting her, Kagome could confidently say both of them were hoping for more heat. It was the eggplant emoji that made her laugh, and she shrugged, tapping out a response with a shrug and  _ maybe next time? _ . Kagome blew out the candles around her bath and flipped the light on, the ends of her hair now soapy with bubble bath as reality came crashing back into her bathroom.

A shower cleaned the tub out and rinsed the soap away, and once she was finished brushing her teeth, she pulled her pajamas on before heading to bed. She couldn’t help how easy it was to insert Sesshoumaru into her fantasies. Like, yes, Inuyasha had been attractive enough, and sometimes there was a sentiment to his brashness that was.. nice. But it was that cold demeanor that cared nothing for her approval that made her insides quiver like a well chilled jello salad. 

“Well, you sexy silver haired asshole, thanks for nothing tonight.” She mumbled, resentment coloring her tone.

~*~

Sesshoumaru fought not to sneeze until after the microphone had turned off. Something in the air, surely. Nina was practically prancing outside of the small sound-booth he was streaming from, her mouth working overtime trying to shout something to him in the sound-proofed box. Pulling the cans from his head, he shook his head impassively. There was no number of times he would reiterate to her that he couldn’t here her she would understand let alone remember that he’d told her he couldn’t hear a god-damned thing inside the booth when they were streaming live. 

Opening the door to a cacophony of squealing noises his editor was making made his sensitive ears ache. 

“Hush. You sound like a dog-whistle, Nina.” He groused, large palm covering her entire face as he strode by her towards the coat rack at the door of the tiny studio.  
“Did you SEE your numbers for this stream? Dude. You’ve only been at this for the last few months! I swear to GOD that sex voice is going to pay for my college!” She laughed giddily, beating him to the coats and throwing the long black trench towards him as she snatched up her brown leather jacket. 

“We only agreed to this for anonymity and so our work would be published. Even if the sound of our voice brings the threshold of this country’s women to its knees in want.” He teased, poking her in the nose. She swatted him away and frowned.

“For the record, while your voice, hair, face and general body are pretty, I’m a lesbian and immune to your charm. Keep your peen in the presence of the ladies that want it, weirdo.” 

Sesshoumaru was rarely brought to smile in these days of newness and discovery, but somehow Nina always managed to make him grin like a whelp with no worries. 

“Besides. You and I both know that there is only one reader you’re even trying to attract with that man-boy voice of yours, and I doubt she’s even alive to listen to it.” 

This gave Sesshoumaru’s mirth pause, his entire demeanor flattening as Nina flippantly belted the coat.

“I dunno why you insist on writing about her instead of moving on to the next best thing.”

“Hn.” 

She eyed him from below, mouth puckered. 

“C’mon. Don’t be that way. I’m just saying - even you admitted yourself you have no idea what era she’s in, only that she’s futuristic. For all you know, you’re playing your strength to the wrong damn crowd. Just..” She shrugged. “I dunno, keep those options open, daddio. Its been too long. I know for a fact your kids would never have wanted to see you this unhappy. Especially mom.

Sesshoumaru’s patience thinned.

“Leave her out of this.” he warned softly. Nina blinked at him, somewhat cowed and a little flustered before she shut the lights off. Sesshoumaru was out the door before she could find it in herself to apologize. He knew his adoptive grand daughter well enough it would sound more a backhanded apology than anything. The street was dark and dampened from the rain of the changing season, soon to give way to snow with winter coming on. Streetlights lead the way back home to a modest house filled with old memories, built in the most traditional style he could still get given the modern era that had destroyed its original. Sliding the door open, he closed it softly behind himself and stood in the doorway for an awkwardly long and quiet moment, unsure of what to do with himself even after all these years. There was nobody at the house at this hour of the night, and there were only a handful of people he paid to come care for it while he ran off on his business ventures or delved into writing about things long forgotten that had finally come to light after the dust of his memories were brushed off. 

Lately, his thoughts remained on one particularly pesky priestess, one who had cost him an arm, and a fair amount of pride at the end of her stay in Feudal Japan. Back then, there was a proposal stuck in the back of his throat he’d never quite mustered the right time to ask. He’d left himself with his proverbial dick in his hand, abandoning the idea he’d ever see her again. Inuyasha had tried to explain to him how the whole thing worked, but failed miserably after the ending of the jewel. The final wish had closed the well for good, and while he had insisted she was saying her goodbyes to her family in the era she was from, she had failed to return with no other explanation to what had happened other than an uninspired shrug from the hanyou. 

It was the single most humiliating and humbling moment of his life. 

Though, in his vast opinion, he was not only defined by such things as failure. The rest of his life was spent in great success, raising a young human girl to her fullest potential and helping her accomplish one of the largest organized anti-crime groups Japan had seen in its days. There was also wealth that was to be made with the passage of time, and while things changed, just as he deftly managed to keep up, he was still in control of many of his lands. Just in ways that didn’t involve immediately identifiable bloodshed. 

Sure, he’d dispatched his fair share of mafia and yakuza, other pieces and bits of organized crime in swathes of blood; but that didn’t mean he was the same beast he’d been five hundred years ago. Now, it took a sizable amount to piss him off enough that it would goad him into action. There had to be a truly malevolent being in his realm that would inspire such heights of reparation in his western lands, and that was found few and far between with the reporting being done on vigilante justice in the woods somewhere. 

There was no book entailing where they were, but Sesshoumaru knew where every body he’d ever buried was. That hole had shrunk in the years and nowadays his realm was experiencing peace it had never known before. Which is why he now had time to invest in ridiculous hobbies, like the current one. Nina, a long time friend to the Inus, had suggested putting his historical knowledge and baritone to good use. Sponsors were practically crawling out of the woodwork now in an attempt for him to do voice-over work, most of which he declined in favor of his reading. Nina had even gone so far as to start introducing him as the Velveteen Voice, like he was some sort of ridiculous super-hero in those old American Comics. Sesshoumaru had shaken his head and dismissed the whole thing entirely, insisting on his mysterious nature and attempting to drop the stupid names.

Slipping out of his shoes, he padded barefoot to the spacious living room and settled on reading what Nina would insist was a trashy novella. The honest truth was these things did nothing for him. Occasionally he would find something he could emulate and would inspire new ideas to write about, but lately, he’d had the oddest urge to go about writing something filth-ridden. Something about the way she acted, maybe the way she looked? He shook his silvery head as thought to get the ideas to align properly. If he were any kind of author, he would provide a perfectly worded portrait of his muse, and what she looked like first. As he recalled, she greatly enjoyed her hot springs and would bathe frequently...

*Back in Feudal Times*

He hadn’t meant to be a spy of any sort, let alone a lascivious one, but he couldn’t help it. He’d been drawn by the scent of dead things and powerful demon blood, only to find a very angry priestess stumbling through the forest towards the small spring he presumed she was originally after. There were some incredibly colorful cursings coming out of her mouth. The longer he listened, there was an occasional word that slipped from her mouth that sounded like fun to say, but was clearly being uttered as a curse. So instead of letting her run through the forest in her folly, he decided to follow and listen, perhaps learn something new. 

She rambled through the forest like a heard of boar, not a single consideration for being the loudest creature in the forest. Her angered demeanor lessened upon the hot spring she’d finally made her way to, friends far enough away that the couldn’t hear her grumbling. Sesshoumaru watched placidly as the priestess dropped a heavy satchel and bent over to dig through it, snatching a few items with unnecessary irritation and tossing them to the side. Then, with no grace whatsoever, she stripped her odd haori and its separate green mate, feet sliding over the ankle boots she wore then the long tabi until her body was mostly undressed. 

Sesshoumaru had seen a naked female before - he’d bedded plenty of beautiful demonesses in his time, and the anatomy was usually roughly the same with a few minor differences depending on the species. But human women only had minor differences. They didn’t all look the same by any means, but the differences were... subtle, not the same in the human realm as the demonic. Taking care not to knot inside of inu demonesses one was unmarried to while in demonic rutting forms, for example. Or attempting not to lay with the undead, which while it was already unusual, apparently there were more risks than he cared to admit he’d had to skirt. Kagura was beautiful enough, but the stench of death around her was enough of a deterrent he’d opted not to play in such fields. 

The priestess was one of optimal human beauty, even if she was on the young side for experiences. According to what he’d heard though, she was a mere twenty years old at this point in her life, or at least that’s what he’d picked up. Her ungraceful body was still young and lithe, breasts tight and pert. Her hair, while completely bogged down by the same goo saturating her clothes, was a pleasantly long cascade of black on pale skin, and her doe brown eyes still held a fiery innocence that he found pleasurable to engage. 

“Stupid fucking demon, getting a bunch of fucking garbarge all the fuck over in my fucking  _ hair _ . FACK!” She raged, fingers clawing through her hair with wild abandon as they tried to pull as many fragments from her hair as possible. There was that word again. She used it in past and future tenses, as well as present. He wondered what exactly it meant and his curiosity nearly drove him to reveal his position from his perch, higher up in the trees. 

“Stupid fucking Inuyasha. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuckity fuck.”

Now she was just being gratuitous, and it made him grin. Cursing the hanyou was certainly one of his favorite pastimes as well. She gave a frustrated huff, and he smelled the lightest of tears before she threw her arms akimbo and pulled the last coverings off, leaving her bare to the world. She all but dove into the hot water, staying under for a long moment before resurfacing with a pleased gasp. 

“Nothing. Nothing beats a hot bath. Now to wash my hair...” She hummed as she pulled a bowl from her belongings and scooped water out of the hot spring, getting out lest soap get in the spring and ruin it. Sesshoumaru enjoyed the next few minutes of overjoyed humming and the smell of sandalwood coming from her soaps. Once she’d finished lathering herself and rinsing, she dropped back down into the water with a satisfied exhale.

“I’m never leaving this fucking spring. Never again.”

“Priestess.”

A shriek filled the clearing as he landed, greeting her. 

“What the fuck Sesshoumaru?!” She shrilled at him.

“You keep using this word, fuck...” He hummed, schooling his expression to keep the smirk off his face. “What does this word mean?”

“What, fuck?” She said, arms trying to cover what she considered private. This almost did make him smirk. “How long have you been here?!”

He inspected his claws, picking a piece of dirt from beneath one with flourish. “Long enough you have no need to be embarrassed. You are a perfectly normal specimen of female, nothing we have not seen before.”

“Are you fucking serious right now...” One of her palms smacked loudly on her forehead.

“You have not answered our question, miko.”

“Fuck. Means..” She stumbled over the words, blinking like she’d never had to explain it. “Well depending on how its used I guess.. I mean... Well. Literally, to fuck means to have sex.”

She was stammering now, still flushed and attempting to hide herself behind nothing but hands and hot water. 

“But a lot of times its used as kinda a frustration swear word, like damn it, I guess.” She flustered, still trying to explain.

“So the basis of the word means to fornicate..? Correct?” He inquired, now supremely curious as to its usages. She nodded.

“Then an appropriate usage for the word would be... Fuckable? As in we are entirely aware we are fuckable by our attractive nature?” Sesshoumaru let his eyes slide over hers now in a smolder she wasn’t ready for. The woman blinked at him, her blush seeming to crawl down to her chest now. Apparently he’d used the word properly, as she began to nod her head.

“Hm. Interesting. Carry on, priestess. We will let you have your silly privacy.”

He’d walked away, flicking an errant strand of hair over his shoulder and smirking darkly to himself with ideas the word he’d learned today had given him.

*Present Day*

Sesshoumaru laughed to himself at the memory and tossed his novella aside for a shower before sitting down to tap out the short before it was forgotten.


	2. Life can be Disappointing

Kagome knew she drank too much based on how bad her headache was. She should have known better, really; there was a mound of paperwork on her desk regarding new pieces being shipped into the Museum and this essentially meant going to work with a bad headache made worse by reading through emails and paper that hated her. All of the red tape before getting new items in and how they were meant to be cared for before they were received was annoying, especially when it had cushy spaces provided from places they received from like the Smithsonian and other famous museums. When a piece was on loan, they had to rework security, ensure the safety of the artifacts being received, and that it had a place in the behind the scenes archives that would ensure any artifact’s longevity for future generations to enjoy. 

Museums, while not the most popular places for people to visit anymore, still had an important role in harboring all of these pieces. She worked with some of the finest restorers, both working for the museum as well as independently owned contractors, one of which she had a date with later tonight. Danske was kind and sweet; a young man with naturally brown hair and nearly flawless skin, with the most mesmerizing blue eyes. Even his attitude was sweet natured. That is, when you could unbury him from his true passion, which was working on fresh digs. In the last month, there had been a few shrines they found abandoned. In those ruins, they found some fairly old artifacts, including a couple swords as well as some old clothing. 

Danske knew she had a deep love for rediscovering old culture, and that had founded their friendship. Little did he know, the reasoning behind it. It reminded her of a simpler time, when she didn’t have to worry about checks and balances - just kicking monster ass. Kagome sighed. She missed it. She’d closed the well somehow after the wish was made, just when she thought she and a certain white-haired Daiyoukai started getting friskier. If she hadn’t known any better, she was pretty sure he was working up to getting into a physical relationship with her, but days after her birthday, when the shard had officially been completed, she had made her wish had inadvertently closed the portal between her and her friends. 

The void of paperwork stared back with taunting eyes, and her heart wished it was somewhere other than here as she poked at it with her pencil before lowering her a pair of mildly corrective glasses and beginning to sort through it. Somewhere in the bottom of the pile, she found a small note on a blue squared sticky note from Danske. 

‘Can’t wait for dinner!’ with a smiley face. Two months of dating and they were already reduced to sticky notes. Kagome found she was getting bored with the poor guy already. Eri and Yuka had insisted on her dating the guy, citing her last five years of unintentional celibacy through college for a degree in restorative sciences. Despite all of her interest in chemistry (which truthfully, she only learned for restorative properties), she had more just been putting her nose to the grindstone so she could hurry the degree along. There were museums who had read some of her.. ‘theories’ regarding lifestyles in the feudal era of Japan on college term papers that were lining up for her one of a kind perspective. Most had laughed at her de-construction of the life and culture, particularly her careful explanation of how demonic cultures had played an important role in everyday life. But there was one odd ball professor that held a spot where she currently worked that opted to give her the benefit of a doubt. Sosuke, a rotund older man with a handlebar mustache who still took to wearing an eyeglass chained to his glasses, had been fascinated by her unfiltered stories, and given her a job almost immediately. 

“ _Such an open mind will take you places!_ ” he’d insisted.

This still brought her back to the undesirable dinner. She had already made a mistake in that she was dating a colleague. Though his independence status in the museum’s business didn’t technically make him a coworker, who knew what kind of fallout there would be when she finally decided she was done with the relationship. She knew something like this could jeopardize that particular independent contractor and on that note, possibly mess up her standing with her job. Regardless, she would try one more date with the guy before completely giving up. Checking her smart watch, she took a sip of a bottle of water on her desk before rising and staring at the pile of paperwork still left undone. Kagome sighed. It’d be waiting for her when she got back. She hastened down the corridor with her book bag on her side, glasses only being stopped by Sosuke to inquire about some of the documents that had been left on her desk. She excused herself and headed towards the exit. The drive home was too short, and so was her shower in preparation for this loathsome date. 

“Maybe I should call and cancel...” She surmised in her bathroom with a towel wrapped around her head. An emerald green dress was laying on her bed to be worn for dinner with Danske. To be honest, she wasn’t exactly super sure where they were going, and if she was overdressing. He never really told her where they were going. Checking her phone, she saw she only had half an hour left to get ready. 

“I really should just cancel... I’m not looking forward to this anyway.” She mumbled, tossing the towel that was draped over her body to the bed. After towel drying her hair, she ran the blow dryer over it before dressing and putting a thin silver necklace her mother had bought her for her birthday a few years ago. It had a moon on it, and from the stories she’d told her mother, her mother had crossed brothers thinking it was Inuyasha that had the moon and not realizing it was Sesshoumaru. Kagome had paid no real mind, still fingering the small charm between her thumb and forefinger as she stared at her reflection in the mirror wistfully. Tucking it away beneath the sleeveless green dress she wore, she debated hair up or down, and decided to pin it up in a smooth bun. Her phone buzzed and she answered.

“Ready, Kagome?” Danske asked, voice caramel over the phone.  
“As I’ll ever be!” She responded with false bravado. She ended the call and trudged to her door, making one last check before grabbing her wallet, phone and keys, slipping on a pair of nude wedge heels. She gave him a little wave where he stood waiting at the car on the curb and helped her in with a broad smile.

“Wow, you look beautiful! I should’ve mentioned we’re just heading down to a local pub that serves there craft beers and wines.” 

Kagome fought the urge to be annoyed.

“Did I overdress?”

“Nah.” Danske slid the car into drive and they were off. A quiet ten minutes later they pulled up to a red brick building that Kagome could clearly see she was overdressed for. There were a few gentlemen with sports jackets, but most of the girls were dressed down in jeans or flowing skirts that looked comfortable. By comparison, Kagome felt like she had dressed for a business meeting. Walking in got her looks from everyone. Self-consciousness was something Kagome still fought, even knowing she was attractive by most standards - being stared at was discomforting. A few whistles even shrilled when they headed to the nearest table, and she pushed down the feelings of humiliation.

“I really feel over-dressed, Danske. I wish you would have told me where we were going.” She sighed, sitting down at the booth table.

“I just figured you would like a little surprise. I know you enjoy beer, and I figured this is a place we would both enjoy. I like coming down here after a long day of work myself!” He exclaimed, waving to a friendly blonde waitress who smiled brightly.

“Hey Danske! The usual?” She asked. Kagome scowled internally, and smiled externally.

“How about your friend? What can I get you?”

“I’m not sure, what do you have in the way of blonde beers?” Kagome asked. The waitress spouted off a few of their local beers as well as commercial ones that they kept in stock, and she ordered one of the local ones in a tasting glass. She nodded and announced she’d bring back menus. Not only was the bar a dressed down place, but it was popular too. The longer they sat with their beer, the more people had come in, and the rowdier it was to talk. Already, Kagome was trying not to be miserable, and trying not to feel like this was a horrible surprise. She could handle crowds, and enjoyed them most of the time. This was not what she expected dinner with her boyfriend of only a few weeks to be. Once food had been served, Kagome fiddled with the greasy bar food the tavern supplied, and asked for the check to be split so she could pay her share. Danske insisted, made a big show, and because he was a local, managed to sneak the bill from her. She smiled and thanked him for paying, and began to get antsy.

“Listen, Danske. You’ve been super sweet, and I’ve enjoyed getting to know you. But I’m getting the feeling we don’t really..” She struggled. “I don’t think we’re communicating well. Not only that, but I’ve felt like its inappropriate with work and all. I think we’d be better off as colleagues and friends than dating.”

Danske frowned hard, finishing his sip of whatever he’d ordered.

“Where is this coming from? I thought we were doing great!” He insisted. “I mean, sure, its been a little quiet between us, but I feel working in the same field makes us compassionate to one another’s struggles.” His brows knotted in concern. “This is because of dinner here, isn’t it?”

Kagome hastily shook her head and waved her hands in front of her.

“No, no. Its just... I don’t know, I haven’t felt a click between us except for maybe working in the same areas of expertise.”

Danske’s mouth pursed and he nodded once.

“I think its this place. I should’ve warned you. I’m sorry, that’s on me. I really thought you’d like it. Listen. Give me just one more opportunity, we can go on a real datey kind of thing and go out to a quieter restaurant and have something a little more intimate.” He reached out and grasped her hand, giving her a warm squeeze. Kagome studied him. He really was wonderful to look at, smart, clever. As much as she didn’t want to admit she was angry about being unprepared for the place he’d chosen, she felt like she was being silly. 

“Alright. Maybe I’m jumping the gun a bit. I’m just not used to being in a relationship.. This is the first in years. Really since high  school.” She admitted. “I guess I’m just worried I’m wasting your time.” 

She was too polite to say she didn’t want him wasting her time, and was trying to spare hurt feelings. He seemed to appreciate her admissions and squeezed her hand again.

“So what about this high school sweetheart? Do I have to worry some hero is going to come try to sweep you off your feet?” He teased over the din of the bar. 

That caused her to bark out a laugh that turned a few heads as she held back more mirth before it spilled ungracefully from her lips. 

_ You better hope not.. _ she mused.

“No. No, he’s been gone so long I wouldn’t be surprised if he were dead these days.” She answered with an even drier smile. Danske nodded and steered conversation away from old loves, instead talking animatedly about the beer she’d had. She followed his lead comfortably and tried to relax, sipping on her beer and ordering another once her’s had been drained. By the end of the evening, she felt far more rosy cheeked and lax and was enjoying their discussion on his latest dig. She barely even noticed the harsh nudge of spiritual energy brush her as she took another dizzying pull of her drink.

~*~

Sesshoumaru didn’t come to the noisy place often. If not for Nina insisting that their newest Irish red draft beer was a revelation, he would have avoided it altogether. Instead, here he was trying not to be offended by the smell of humans coming off work and sitting at the bar beside him while he was attempting to write. He asked Aniah, the lovely black waitress working there if he were perhaps able to move to a different table. She nodded and helped him gather his beer and things to move him to a table where a couple sat. He slid into the booth, and noticed the woman looked vaguely familiar. He stared for a few moments before cracking open the compact laptop he’d brought with him.

“So what’s the story this time, big guy?” Aniah asked, wiping the table down once more as though trying to look busy. He smirked at his screen. 

“There is nothing new. Simply old historical stories of our country passed down the generations.” He answered with a slow sip of his beer. Aniah sneaked a peak at her manager before she slid into the booth beside him.

“I listened to your last podcast. You have the sexiest voice, Shoma. Seriously, how have you not been paid to do all this before?”

He watched her squirm as he chuckled. 

“It is a new field, and an enjoyable one. Go, before the owner catches you fawning and fires my favorite waitress.” Aniah laughed and trudged away. The shapely young woman had been home with him more than once, and was a pleasant distraction from life every now and again. She had a beautiful understanding of what it was to seek comfort, and had no desire to become entangled in a life here, as she had her own plans to travel the world beyond where she was. Aniah was a new age nomad of sorts, and the stories she told of her travels were about as amusing as his. He’d taken them down for inspiration, wondering if perhaps he would publish them one day. He took another thick swallow of the rich beer he was drinking with a satisfied grunt and happened to glance up again. 

“Listen, Danske..” the woman began, and Sesshoumaru could see on her face what was about to be said. It was along the lines of, It’s-not-you-it’s-me-and-we’re-breaking-up, but the young woman seemed to hesitate and lack conviction. Curious he continued to eavesdrop, chuckling when she was finished. The young man she was with had more confidence than she, as he talked her into another date. He gave a short shake of his head, his hands on the keyboard and his eyes on the screen as he listened. The air in the bar shifted and over the brouhaha of the pub, he nearly shifted back to his natural form. The scent was one of old forest and sandalwood, a note of spiced sweetness at the end that made his mouth water. He felt his beast flicker through his eyes, demanding to identify who would dare resemble her scent. 

Memories were a roaring maw, tousled black hair glinting in moonlit nights, stolen kisses that seemed almost taboo in the light it was behind his family’s back. They positively swallowed him whole. He knew her scent better than her face apparently, because the cosmopoliltan woman that was drinking beer in the booth beside him, having attempted to break up with the man with his back to Sesshoumaru was the one who smelled of her. He took in her features and realized she’d merely aged. There were lines where there hadn’t been. Her youth had left her a maturing young woman, one that looked discretely glamorous. Her hair was up off her neck in a clean bun that gave her a stately look, even as a blush crossed her cheeks from consuming her blonde ale.

Even the dress she wore for the pub was too good for it - a clean, pressed emerald green sleevless dress with a daring V-neck that as he recalled, touched the tops of her knees. And her foot poking from where she was seated showed a nude wedge that matched her skin tone and gave her shapely calf a point that had him swallowing thickly. He blinked one more time, taking in a deep inhale of her scent before it wafted away and confirmed... This was Kagome.  _ The  _ Kagome. The Shikon Priestess who had disappeared from his life over five hundred years ago, whom he had taken inspiration from in the last ten to write historical fiction. Kagome. He struck down the urge to call her name, knowing if he did in this busy bar as time stilled and lost meaning, she wouldn’t know him from a guy down the street. It burned in his throat the longer he stared at the woman, now a laughing and happily tipsy, lashes fluttering on her cheeks as she looked at the man across from her with just a hint of prurient intent despite nearly dumping his ass earlier in the evening.

There was a sudden burst of frustration in the pit of his stomach, watching her with the mediocrity in front of her. The idea of her going home to lay under the whelp before him seemed preposterous and unseemly. That it wasn’t him stirred a jealousy in him he’d not experienced in at least a century, if only because he knew he couldn’t have her to himself instantly. Finding himself a fly on the wall in all of this was both humorous and infuriating; but here he was, watching the first and last interest in the human emotion love he’d had in hundreds of years. He could hear the boy before him ask if she was ready to leave, and watched her shrug those elegant shoulders with a coy smile. 

The whelp rose, and Sesshoumaru’s eyes flitted to his work in front of him. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Kagome rise with grace despite the alcohol and wedges, and did not miss the inching of the cad’s hand over her hip, pinky brushing her buttocks as they walked for the door. It was as though he’d been forever trained to watch her leave, and as he sat while the door closed he wondered if he’d ever see her again. Looking down at his computer, he realized he’d been writing down all the details of her, and the conversation she was having with her date. Sesshoumaru sighed, frustrated as he took his hair down and ran his claws over his scalp in a comforting gesture. 

“Hey Shoma! You need another beer?” Aniah called from behind the counter. He started, and gave her an affirming hand before reading over the notes. It sounded like they were both very interested in beers and archaeology from what he was reading. Aniah brought over a fresh pint, taking his empty glass. 

“So who was that hot chick you were eye-banging earlier? The one that left with Danske?”

Sesshoumaru pursed his lips.

“You know the man she was with?”

“Well yeah... That dude comes in here to have Blondie wait on him; usually comes by himself or sometimes with his bro dudes.”

“Hn. And what is this Danske’s profession?” He inquired further. Aniah eyed him, the rag in her hand shifting from one to the other before she leaned on the table. 

“Shoma. If I didn’t know any better I’d say you sound jealous. You got a girlfriend I’ve never met before? I know Nina shares her conquests actively, I speak from experience. But not you - you’ve never been one to share, really.”

Sesshoumaru would have been annoyed with the young woman, who was far too wise for her years, if she hadn’t been completely and utterly correct. 

“I do know her. We were... Acquaintances long ago.” He answered vaguely, drinking the frosty red beer. Aniah laughed, slapping the rag on the table.

“The lies! I know a former flame when I see one, Takamora. If you’re gonna lie to me, better make it better than that.” 

This time, his hazel eyes flashed gold at her and she blinked. 

“Must you pry into every aspect of my life, Aniah?” he snipped. She gave a surrendering gesture and backed away. 

“Hey. I’ll always call it like I see it, Shoma. When you wanna be honest we can talk.”

He sighed. It wasn’t like him to take frustrations out on a comrade. Particularly one he had intended to take home tonight, but his mood for it was spoiled at this point. Watching a mere pup take Kagome home with salacious intent was enough to sour any piece of good mood he had, especially when there was no cause to stop him from doing so. Kagome was a full grown woman, one who could do as she pleased in this era. Even if what she pleased looked to be some pious shithead with not but a few years under his belt of any kind of experience. He frowned at all the latent information tainting his latest historical work and opened a new document, transferring it there and then stared like a light bulb had gone off. What if...

Sesshoumaru looked once again over the information and began making the necessary changes, formulating a new plot that Nina was sure to love. 

~*~

Kagome stared at her ceiling, regret pouring through her when her idiotic decision dawned on her. One too many beers later, and they had wound up at Danske’s studio where she had made an irreversible drunken decision. Laying naked in his large bed, her buzz completely gone over the sound of Danske’s soft snoring, she sat up slowly, quietly looking around the room for her discarded clothing, choosing not to don her heels until she made it safely out of the apartment without waking her bedfellow. Its not that sex wasn’t pleasant - for her first time it wasn’t terrible. Painful, at the very least, but not terrible. She’d managed to make an excuse to slow him down that didn’t outright admit to being a virgin, demurely saying it had been a long time since she’d done anything like this. He seemed to understand, but it didn’t seem to slow his eager roll, and she was left far behind by the time he’d raced across the finish line with a satisfied shout.

Kagome had laid there under his sweaty body for a few minutes, supremely disappointed that this what the hype was about. She felt gypt and lied to, she realized as she walked down the hall noiselessly. Was it that bad every time? It was a legitimate concern that sex was like that with everyone, and the minuscule pleasure she’d gotten from the last few thrusts was all it was going to be. It wasn’t anything like... She frowned as she called a cab.   
Within a few minutes she was home, and tipping the cab driver. Upon entering her apartment, she fled to the bathroom and ran some warm water for a bath to get his smell off of her and snatched up her phone to set it to the podcast she’d listened to the night before. Sinking into the small tub, she pressed play for the author’s deep voice to fill the room. Listening with prejudice after this foray into adulthood nightmares, she sank into the water as deep as she could and washed.

It wasn’t long before the man’s voice brushed over her like silk, inspiring that warm knot of desire to course frustratingly through her. There was latent sexual desire that had been ignored during her first brush with sex, bubbling beneath the surface. Danske may have put in a little effort... But the longer she listened to the voice on her phone, the more inspired she was to brush her hands down her sides, over the swell of her hips, scraping at her thighs with her nails and imagining someone else entirely teasing her in ways she never thought to experience as an innocent in the feudal era. She was positively panting with need and touching herself was only fanning the flames. Golden eyes watched her with disdain, touching herself to his memory, and she moaned when the water swished around her hand the faster she moved. He clicked his fangs in displeasure, and the voice was suddenly his.

“We never did care for the incessant liberties human women took in imagination on our body.” He murmured in her ear beside the tub. Her eyes fluttered, so close to release.  
“What are we doing to you, Miko?” He inquired in disapproval as the heat between her thighs flared. 

“How quaint.. Only without our haori?”

“Yes..” She breathed. 

His tongue clicked on the roof of his mouth, and she could practically feel his warm breath on the shell of her ear. “So limited; we are capable of boundless pleasures, pretty little thing. Such advancements in this day and age shall have caught up with our advanced knowledge of carnal pettiness, and if we were alive today, would be well above it.”

“You talk too much.” She groaned. “Shut up so I can get there.”

His chuckle washed against her skin in a cashmere brush.

“Get where, little priestess? Where shall we take you?”

She gasped, unable to answer as the brink of the cliff she was running towards came closer and closer. A female voice interrupted her fantasy, announcing the end of the podcast and to tune in next week for the next installment. Kagome cursed, slapping the water near tears as her frustration mounted. Curse her infernal luck in any kind of love or lust. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> REVIEWS ARE FUEL! Thank you for taking the time, milomai19, Klriley07, Lynn_Nexus, and effinsusie~! You make my day, truly.   
> Until Next week Darlings!


	3. Moving on, But Not

Nina stared at the first chapter a chortled. 

“You moved on, but you didn’t. What the fuck Sesshoumaru? What’s the muse behind this?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I had spoken the truth.” 

Nina brushed back a piece of her bleached hair and gave him a look that suggested he try her. 

“I found her.”

She blinked at him. “Nah. You’re fucking with me.”

Sesshoumaru’s deadpan gaze held hers, all gold in her presence at the recording studio. 

“Per your words, I keep my genitals in the gender that prefer them. You do not.”

It was an awful joke, poorly delivered, but she got it and laughed. 

“Right. My darling Alice appreciates you keeping it to yourself, stud. So you really want to stop production on the last piece to start airing this?”

He merely nodded, shifting on the stool. 

“Alright. I won’t argue with the artists on his creations. We’ll see how well it does before we nuke it.”

“Your fidelity in me is astonishing, Nina.” 

She cackled on her way out the door, slamming it behind her so she could run the controls of the booth. Sesshoumaru arranged the pages before him ready to read.

~*~

Kagome’s work week started in frustration, and was ending exactly the same way. Danske still hadn’t made arrangements for the dinner he’d promised her, and she wondered if he was one of those that didn’t have a problem with doing the fuck ‘em forget ‘em thing Yuka had warned her about. Not only had she given in to a flight of fancy, she’d completely forgone the need to make Danske wait for anything. It made her feel foolish and used. Her issue of blue walls and being completely unsatisfied was also carrying in to her work. No new episode had been released from the author with the golden voice, much to her disappointment. Even Eri had texted her about the odd skip in updates, and they had ranted together during her lunch hour yesterday. Today was her Friday, and if there was nothing planned, she had decided to take herself out to dinner.

Professor Sosuke had deposited an impressive amount of approval paperwork for one of the more traditional sets of samurai armor for a showcase he wanted to put together. It was truly at that moment Kagome was convinced she would spend her entire career under a pile of shredded forest. She’d managed half of the work, settled the approval and read through the care guidelines when she finally checked her phone for the time with a yawn. It was later than she had anticipated. Tossing the file aside, she stretched before headed for her purse on the coat hanger. She poked her head into Sosuke’s office and said a hasty goodbye to avoid anymore paper and was nearly down the steps of the museum to her car parked at the side of the building when Danske appeared with a wide smile. 

“Hey, Kagome. I was just coming to see you.”

“Oh! Hey. What’s up?”

“Well didn’t you want to think I forgot about dinner. Wanna go out tonight?” His charming grin flashed, and Kagome was already questioning if she wanted to try again. He had this weird Jock magnetism that made her wonder if maybe the second time was the charm. She was about to open her mouth to answer when her phone rang. Eri’s number popped. She smiled sympathetically.

“Let me take this really quick.” She said holding her finger up. “Hello?”

“Kagome. You NEED. Like this isn’t an option NEED to listen to the latest update. Mr. Velvet has done a complete 180 and wrote a new story based in the modern day!”

“What?” She snuck a glance at Danske, who was watching her with an intent smile. She returned it and turned around as she answered. “Seriously? I thought he was only a historical fiction writer?” 

“Thats just it - it still technically works... Okay, girl you need to go home and listen to the new podcast. You’ll thank me later! I gotta go before boss catches me on the phone.”

The line clicked and Kagome had an out. One that was too tempting to pass up. She checked her phone, and sure enough there was all kinds of hype about the new story from the guy they had started dubbing Mr. Velvet. While it sounded tacky, she really couldn’t disagree. She shuddered just thinking about the way his voice seemed to wash all over her, truly akin to the tugging of a silken blanket over her naked body. Between Danske’s body and Mr. Velvet’s voice, she knew she was going to have a better time in the tub with a bottle of wine than chancing it with Danske. 

“Hey, can we maybe take a rain-check on this whole dinner thing? I really have something else that needs my attention..?” 

Danske’s smile muted a bit but he nodded.

“Sure. Let me know if you have time this weekend, maybe we can make plans.”

“Sure.” Kagome answered nonchalantly, still staring at the screen of her phone as she headed for her car.

A quick stop at the grocery store and she was on her way home with the usual - chips, chocolate, and premixed cocktails. She nearly tripped over a couple of people in her haste to get out of the grocery store, but by the time she was home it had started to get late. This was surely one of the best parts about adulting. Lighting candles around her bathroom, she perfected the mood in the bathroom before bringing in her extras. She connected her phone, and got into the tub, pressing play to the podcast before sinking down.

“This week’s episode is a whole new storyline! Enjoy Velvet’s new series, Eros Archaeology.” The woman’s voice ended, and Kagome shoved down the delight that tickled her senses when she heard his voice. 

“Mediocrity was not in her nature. It showed in the way she did her work, the adventures she had in the every day waking world. She wrapped bruised, sensitive hands now, eyeing her prize on the ledge above. Its golden glint sparkled in the noon sunlight, and she wiped the sweat away from her brow as she narrowed her focus, looking for ways to her prize. The piece, what was being called the Blessed Feather of Adi Parashakti was said to have healing properties. The granite around it was like new, beautiful and untainted with any growth that would hinder the natural pillar on which it rested. Vines grew in the abandoned temple lushly, and testing the strength of one proved to be a useful climbing tool.

Kagome grasped the first bottle of her beverages and snapped the top open.

“Kora managed to make it up far enough on one, then swung her body to the ledge in which the pillar rested. Her hands shook as the Blessed Feather came closer and closer within reach, and she nearly had it grasped when a bellowing of triumph startled her into pause. Swinging down from the height of the temple’s roof was her nemesis. His trajectory had him passing her at break neck speed, and the gleaming golden feather was plucked from it’s place in moments she couldn’t even follow. She shouted after him, jumping back into the vines and half-falling to catch up to the cad that had swiped her find before she.”

Opening a single serve bag of chips, she crunched, curious as to where Mr. Velvet were taking this. 

“The restorative properties from the temple gone, it began crumbling around them as they hastened towards the nearest exit. Kora managed to catch up and stuck her foot out, snatching the golden feather as he tumbled behind her and raced on, stuffing the golden feather in her front travel pack for safekeeping. Her nemesis shouted after her, an angry roar at being cheated but she didn’t look back, fleeing for her waiting comrade in arms and shouting for him to start the small chopper. They were in the air just as the ledge where the temple rested began to crumble away. When the landed, they were met with the forensics team that cooed over the glorious triumph, sealing it so it should be studied as she went off to her own corner of the museum. It was not the homeliest of places, but she appreciated the scent of dust and dirt in ways nobody understood. The past caressed her like a loving embrace - filled with promises of tomorrow from the yesterdays that held magic nobody understood like those who read the lore. Kora, one of the sacred preservers of history, had managed another successful row with the the fiend Desmond. Tired and bruised, she locked her door and tossed her gear on the worn wooden desk. She was unaware someone had outrun her home.”

Kagome set aside the empty bag and finished her first drink, using her foot to draw more hot water into the bath.

“Stripping as she made her way to the makeshift, she peeled the dirt riddled grey tank top off revealing nothing underneath of it but sweaty sheen of her tanned skin and the gentle slope of her muscular body.”

Kagome swallowed hard on her mixer, pleased he was finally getting to something good. The story had to start somewhere, that was true. But he’d always held an almost... Romantic note to all of his story lines. This felt more like action than romance up until now.

“Her brown leather gloves came next, then her shoes, socks, shorts, until she was stripped bare and headed for her bathroom. A hot shower would do her aching body good - a week of research in the jungles of India had done her no favors, bites from the gods knew what riddled around her body. Dirt rushed over her as she rinsed her hair before soaping with cheap scented shampoo. The practical woman in her preferred as such, regardless of opinion. She jumped with she heard the voice behind her.

‘It may be safe now, but it will be mine before long... Your heart along with it.’ a low timbre came from the shadows of her office, and soon leaning against the doorframe of her bathroom. The handsome dark haired devil appraised her from where he stood. She glared at the intrusion.

‘It was over years ago. When are going to get that through your thick skull?’ She hissed, covering herself with wet hands. His eyes never left hers, and Kora felt a shiver of something run down her spine, but ignored it. 

‘Don’t make me get out of the shower. I’m more agile when I’m naked.’”

Kagome laughed out loud and snatched a piece of chocolate as she giggled to herself. While it was a totally different story, she was loving the tangent he was going off of. The story revolved around a love triangle that developed between the heroine, who was being written as almost a female version of Indiana Jones. It was endearing to have it take a turn from historical, to historic protector. She put herself in the heroines shoes like cozy slippers, and felt a new passion for her job revivify her. Pride swelled and she wiggled in her bath at the sexy voice giving her new pleasure she didn’t know was possible.   
It was absolutely worth missing dinner with Danske.

~*~

“Your numbers boomed, you asshole. I KNEW if you changed it up you’d get more listeners!” Nina squealed in delight, waving her phone as Sesshoumaru sat on the spinning stool beside her. 

“So the live alone drew your usual numbers plus about a five percent more for the live, then a huge number listening to the recording. Like, triple your usual number. It debuted and you have serious word of mouth clout, Sess.”

“How are the sales for the book?”

Nina’s flush lost some of its hue, and Sesshoumaru knew the bubbling blonde didn’t have good news. It wasn’t as though he was a stranger to bad news; and not every talent he’d developed in his life mean he was good at it. He had a habit that required him to do the thing he hated until he garnered some sort of consistency doing it. It would be less likely a hindrance in the future. Writing was something he’d taken up if only because he wanted to preserve the piece of his past he remembered fondly. Painting was more his preference, the color and subject being completely illustratable to the one perusing the painting. Writing was somewhat the same, open to subjective thought but it wasn’t something that came as naturally as reading color and shading. 

“So the downloads for the book are holding kinda steady, but there weren’t many that attended the signing as you noticed. Purchases are down in hard and soft back.” 

Sesshoumaru nodded. 

“You may be correct. Perhaps this is the change necessary to take our writing to the next level.” he sighed. Nina chucked him on the shoulder gently.

“Hey. Its not the first time something didn’t go your way. You’ll bounce back just fine, I’m sure of it. Even if this little hobby doesn’t work out you have plenty of resources to recoup.”

“Nina...”

“I know, Sesshou, it isn’t about the money.” She huffed. “I’m just saying. You wait for a bit and we can try again. While you’re waiting you can always look for work reading someone else’s shit.”

He nodded but still felt a silver of failure. Though public opinion was not something he staked his life on, it still brought him a touch of pleasure to bring joy to the masses.   
“Come. Let us buy you a round on us.” 

Nina’s head tilted as she studied him and eventually nodded, looping her arm around his as Rin used to do, leaning against him. Sesshoumaru’s heart swelled. In all his attempts to stay cool, reserved, every now and again one of his adopted pack members would remind him why he accepted strays on occasion. Nina had been a kitten upon joining. Her mother and pride were here briefly, leaving upon the sweep of humans searching for demons as enemies. She had been left behind in her pride’s haste to leave, looking for safer shores. Sesshoumaru happened to come upon her just before a rock was coming down to crush her school even as she hissed at her offenders. His mercy had stopped them, and his training had made her a formidable opponent. Rin was head of her crew, and when Sesshoumaru had brought the blank eyed kit to her, she’d cooed happily. 

“I’ve always wanted a baby..” She’d said, rocking the little girl. “I’m so happy..” 

Rin’s eyes were filled with love as she gazed on him, then back to the sad blonde kitten who seemed to give him a look questioning his sanity putting her with a mortal. Between them, the unheard conversation was a promise she would be a better creature than he, and learn love in a different way than demons knew. He’d been correct. 

Rin had loved the kitten whom grew far slower than she like a daughter for the entirety of her short human life. When she was no longer able to care for Nina, Sesshoumaru had come to collect her to teach her the demon side of things - or at least the Inu side of things. His clan had been none to happy to receive a kit, but he cared not much for the politics of the clan. He taught her to hunt as an inu. Taught her the politics of station without exposing her to it. He had taught her many things before she wandered off into the world alone, and come back full of experiences that made her wiser, more clever than he could have hoped for. Though her humor had turned crass, and a little less than desirable, he found he appreciated her all the more for it. He’d grown accustomed to her boom of personality, because the smaller, quieter parts like holding his arm were very reminiscent of Rin. Just like his writing, she was a precious part preserved from his past. He kissed her forehead sweetly and they walked out of the studio together, headed for the pub he frequented.

~*~

It was Take Two of date night. Kagome had decided against dressing in any kind of formal nature, and instead decided on a breathy top with a colorful yellow and pink pattern and a pair of aged jeans. Boots for comfort, and her hair in a messy barely kept bun. Only a bit of highlighter, maybe a touch of eyeliner and mascara and she was good on makeup. This time, she had insisted to Danske she drive herself and asked for the location. He’d started to complain, but she insisted she didn’t want the same to happen last time - cabs were expensive and she preferred going home to staying at a house she didn’t know. 

She’d realized since last time sparing his feelings with her comfort was not the way she needed to be doing this. Even Momma had agreed when she asked about it on the phone (sparing certain details, but still asking nonetheless). This time, it was to a small bistro across from the pub where he’d taken her before. Parking her car alongside the quiet restaurant, she entered and was shown to Danske’s table, who rose happily and kissed her cheek.

“How was your thing the other night?”

Kagome flushed. After the story had ended, she had engaged in a vigorous and rousing round that had her sweaty and showering afterwards.

“I-Its was.. Well.. It.. Good?” She fumbled, not wanting to give away her newest dirty little secret. Having this seemed taboo, and she enjoyed the idea she was getting away with something even if she wasn’t doing a single thing wrong. Danske seemed confused, but nodded. 

“As long as you’re having fun.”

“Right, of course. What did you do with your time Friday night?” She asked, diverting his attention back on him. 

“Well, we have a benefactor that has some of our team out on a new dig site. We found this clan of shinobi or warriors. Never seen anything like it. They have these suits, and weapons made of incredible old material. So durable.”

Kagome’s brows furrowed, enraptured with high hopes as she listened to him describing some of the things that resembled a slayers weapons from back in the feudal era. 

“Where abouts did you find this stuff? And have you been able to date it?” 

Danske shook his head.

“We’ve never really come across anything like this. There isn’t really a portion of known Japanese history that covered these guys unless you count myths and lore.”

She nodded. Dinner had come and they were quiet while they ate. She sipped on some water before leaning back and musing. What if they had found the remnants of Sango’s slayer village? Perhaps she had rebuilt, and they were finding newer remnants of an older village. She could imagine her and Miroku having so many children it was obscene, making enough friends to rebuild their little village into something magnanimous. She was lost in her dreaming when a soft touch on her hand brought her back to the present.

“You sure are thinking hard. What’s on your mind?” Danske asked. She didn’t mean to be so mysterious, or quiet. But looking over him, she realized with a softened sadness he’d never understand or be able to completely listen. Maybe that it there wasn’t a spark was for the best?

“Just remembering some friends from when I was a girl in high school. That’s all.” 

He nodded, leaning back in his chair. They sat in silence for most of the rest of dinner, occasionally commenting between one another some of the theories they had on the new archaeological dig he’d been working on. Once dinner was over, he kissed her cheek and said his goodnights. Kagome slid into the drivers seat of her car, wishing she could push down this feeling she wasn’t meant to be with him, but something just didn’t feel right, and it wasn’t the first time she’d had to fight with herself over such a feeling. It was fiercest when she realized it happened with Inuyasha and his affections or lack thereof. She sighed, and didn’t rub her eyes the way she wanted to thanks to her dumb makeup. 

His vehicle pulled away and she sat for a long time in her car. Somehow, going home didn’t feel right. She looked across the way and saw the pub was hopping busy. Maybe just a couple of beers to take the edge off this weird, awkward night was what she needed. Kagome snatched her ID and money and tucked them into her front pocket as well as her phone in her back pocket and locked her car again. Entering the pub this time was much warmer than it was before. Nobody seemed to notice her entrance, and she felt the humidity of warm bodies swamp her. It wasn’t entirely unpleasant, and the smell of hops and booze was awfully earthy. She inhaled and smiled, swimming through the group of people swarmed around the television watching whatever game was on boisterously. She managed to get to the bar unmolested and the lovely black barkeep cleaning glasses noticed her right away, flashing a brilliant smile. 

“Hey cutie! What can I get you?”

“I had a really good sweet blonde ale a few days ago!”

“Strawberry Blonde?” She asked over the din. Kagome nodded. “Coming right up!”

Kagome leaned forward on the bar, not wanting to sit with all the anxious energy pent up in her. A ice cold mug was placed before her and she pulled the cash she had out of her pocket. The bar keep waved her off.

“First round is on me; enjoy!” Kagome blinked but gave her a wide smile, reading her name tag.

“Thank you so much Aniah!”

The woman gave a loud  _ pfffff _ and went about keeping the rest of her bar happy, pouring beer left and right like it was her calling. 

Kagome turned and decided to watch whatever was on the screen, her beer going down a cool balm to her soul. She felt less heavy after the first, and requested a second that she made sure to tip heavily on. 

“Hey!” Kagome turned swiftly and saw Aniah waving to her with a bar towel, leaning forward. “Your next round is on that dude down at the end of the bar.” 

Kagome leaned forward, seeing a guy that looked maybe in his early thirties. Shoulder length hair had been put up hastily, about as messy as hers, and she could see his glasses glinting off the screen he was currently buried in. He wore slacks and a long-sleeved knitted turtle neck in dark green. He didn’t seem to be paying any attention, and Kagome looked back at the barmaid who shrugged when she tilted her head doubtfully. Regardless, she decided to saunter over and thank the gentleman for his gratuitous nature but maybe decline. She wasn’t about to let someone get the wrong idea. Even if she considered herself single despite the date she’d just been on. 

When she approached, she saw he was working fervently on someone and was still doubting he’d sent her a beer, but tapped him on the shoulder nevertheless. He seemed to start and look up from his work, removing glasses and eyes widening. His mouth opened and she stopped him with a finger.

“Hey, I just wanted to say thanks but no thanks for the beer. I think this is my last for the night.”

The man’s brow furrowed for a moment, and Kagome was beginning to suspect the barmaid had played a trick on her for gods know why.

He looked back to the barmaid who wiggled her brows at him and he seemed displeased with her. Deeply displeased. She could almost feel his aura darken, and it had been a long time since she’d felt this kind of irritation around her. He turned back and was far more polite with her.

“Of course. Of course, I understand. Please forgive me for being so forward you simply..” He looked over her like he knew her and it was unnerving. “You simply look familiar.”

She nodded and was about to turn and leave, but there was something... She held his hazel gaze and felt a thump in the pit of her stomach that insisted she stay. 

“May I ask what you’re working on?” She asked, drinking from the chilled mug. His laptop snapped closed and she felt at once she’d intruded in his space. 

“Nothing of note.” He responded crisply. That voice... She could barely place it, but it was so loud she could hardly hear him. Now was barely the time to hold a conversation, and the place was not the greatest. 

“Hey Shoma!” A loud blonde called from the front of the pub, waving and clawing her way through the bar. The small woman stopped in front of her, eyes widening. “Uh.. Shoma... I was gonna ask if you wanted to catch what was left of the game... But you look busy.”

Kagome shook her head apologetically, waving one hand.

“No, don’t mind me, I can be going. I didn’t mean to intrude.”

Kagome hated the anxiety and awkwardness building and went to walk away when a warm hand on hers stopped her.

“It is fine. Stay. I would appreciate the new company. Please, sit.” He was so eloquent even with how loud it was. 

“I don’t want to intrude.” She insisted again. The blonde waved her hand.

“Don’t mind me - my girlfriend is over there and got a good spot in front of the tv - we just wanted to make sure Shoma didn’t sit here alone all night working. Enjoy!” She said with a small V for victory before bolting back into the crowd. What was with the world tonight?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are always a great pleasure, thank you very much, Lynn_Nexus, Reggaeton, milomai19, mim, and Klriley07~!   
> Constructive criticism is always welcome!  
> Thank you for reading~!


	4. Is it Really Cheating..?

Sesshoumaru tried not to gape. It was unbecoming of the Demon Lord to stare. But the sweet scent he missed over the busy smell of a bar at full capacity was now encompassing the little corner where he’d been working on the piece garnering so much attention online lately. His inspiration stood before him in a loud top, ripped jeans, and a pair of scuffed boots. She was truly the polar opposite of the date night she had been on and every bit the woman he was writing Kora. Surely, his staring was unnerving her, but it was difficult to push off the strong sense of sentimentality overwhelming his ability to speak to her. 

“Do not mind Nina. She is as a daughter to me.” His face quirked in a smile that he knew tended to be lady killing. Her flush indicated she was charmed. Either his grin or the beer he noted in her hand.

“You seem young to have a daughter old enough for a pub.” She laughed.

“I am far older than you would think.” He answered vaguely. 

“Do you mind if I ask how old?” She inquired. He flicked her nose and she started with an indignant huff.

“One may consider it rude to ask one’s age upon first meeting. Trust when I say she is as a daughter, nothing more.” 

Kagome’s laugh was fresh air in his stagnant world. She was history come to life again, just for him, and he delighted in it. 

“Surely you would feel the akin if I asked the same?” He barbed. She met him with a saucy grin.

“I have no shame in my age, Mr. Shoma. I’m in my thirties.” 

“High or low end?” 

“Low end, though I don’t think we know one another well enough to go into those kinds of details. Something tells me this is the last I’ll ever see of you.” She said, leaning against the bar beside him on her elbows. Her pert hind-end was within claws reach, and Sesshoumaru could feel his fingers twitching. His gaze pulled away long enough to see a blush spreading across her face as she looked away. Clearly she’d caught him staring at her ass. It would stand to reason he couldn’t help it - it was an admirable ass. 

“I would hope not.” He answered, honesty dripping through his lowered, sultry tone. She looked back at him over her shoulder after she’d placed her empty mug on the counter for Aniah to pick up. 

“Do you come here often?” She asked, close enough for him to smell the pale ale on her already mint sweetened breath. 

“I do. The brews are finely crafted and when its quiet, it is the optimal place to work.” 

“What do you do?”

“I write. And you?” He already knew. She worked in acquisitions and restorations for the museum half an hour away, and enjoyed her work deeply, passionately from what he could tell.

“I work for a local museum. Nothing much. Just some restoration work and digging through paper when I’m not in the dirt.” She smiled. 

“Are you sure you are done at two beers? A third would be my pleasure, and all I ask is companionable conversation.”

She studied him, debating for a moment before she pursed her lips.

“Okay - but only one more. Once that beer is done, I’m off. I have work tomorrow and need to get home soon.”

“Takamora Shoma.” Sesshoumaru gave his alias, and reached his hand out to her. She took it after a moment and there was a painful spark between them that had her yelping and pulling away. His heart thundered as it raced in his chest. His youki remembered the intense pulse of her reiki, and had reacted like a static charge after so long. The sting felt delicious in his palm and his beast’s head swiveled, its ears perked forward as though listening for a homely howl.

“Hi-Higurashi Kagome.” She responded, staring at her hand before tilting her head. “Did you just..?”

“What?” He played it as though he hadn’t felt a thing, ignoring the savory sear of true pain in centuries. She shook her head.

“Nothing.” She took a long swallow of the new beer before setting the mug down.

“So let's steer away from work. Do you have a girl, Shoma?”

“Would I be here, buying a beautiful woman drinks if I did?”

“Touche..” She said with a nod and a grin. “Unless you’re a two-timing cad?”

He chuckled and she saw her face positively glow with pleasure.

“Perhaps I am? Is it a risk a beauty like you can afford?”

Kagome laughed.

“You’re a bit too kind on that end. I’m homely at best.”

“There are few souls in this world that do not wish to return home to a feeling of warmth and comfort. It sounds as though you are the perfect woman, the way you describe yourself.”

She flushed further and sipped more of her mug. She was already halfway through it, and Sesshoumaru felt like each sip was minutes of time, slowly being drained away from him.

They bantered a bit back and forth, enjoying playing mystery date and before long, her beer was gone and she was leaning on one elbow facing him at the bar. She pulled her hair out and it cascaded in a tousled mop around her face. He failed to constrain his hand, and it reacted without his permission as it tucked an errant strand of her hair back behind her ear. His gentle pull of it had her eyes riveted on him. 

“You seem so familiar yourself, Shoma. Why do I feel like I’ve known you forever?” She asked softly, just so he could hear her.

“I am an old soul, Kagome.” He answered, as dubious as his other answers to her more direct questions tonight. “There is much I have seen and done. Old souls know one another. From what I gather, you are one as well.”

The hand tugging at her hair found its way under her chin, tilting her towards him. The deepest part of him desired to pull her flush with his entire body and dive into her mouth like a thirsty man finding water in the desert. She smelled luxurious, felt soft and even opened to him in such a way that she would welcome him to do so. He realized by the deeper maturing scent she gave off, she’d been deflowered recently. It wasn’t the same spicy heated scent, but mellowed and flavorful. He wanted to taste her for the first time, and be the last who ever set their mouth upon her lips. 

And then her fucking phone rang. The spell they were under dissipated with a single vibration, and upon her checking the phone she realized it was the infernal whelp that had taken her home the last time he saw her. She excused herself to the corner and answered the call, having a brief conversation before coming back to the bar sheepishly.

“Listen... It was really great to meet you Shoma. I hope we bump into one another some other day. In the meantime, I really have to go. Thank you for your company tonight... it was nice.” She said with a light bow. He stood and grasped her hand before she turned to leave and pressed a slow kiss into it.   
“The pleasure was mine. Drive safely, Kagome.”

The woman paused as though she wanted to say something, but thought better and gently slipped her hand away as she disappeared through the crowd of the bar. He watched that patch of crowd for a long time before he heard his alias name drawn out far longer than was necessary.

“Boo, who was  _ she _ that had you on your best behavior tonight?” Aniah laughed, leaning over the bar with mischief in her eyes. “At first I thought you were gonna jump over this bar and murder me, but then you found your beat.”

Sesshoumaru raised a thin brow at her.

“You are lucky we are not the creature we used to be, and I like you.” He answered pantone. Aniah’s laugh was more boisterous at his threat and he sighed with a shake of his head. He gathered his computer into a side bag and paid his bartender on top of a sizable tip that had her sputtering before finding Nina in the crowd. She was screaming and yelling alongside the humans over some kind of match he didn’t care enough to look up and waved for her attention that he was leaving. She followed him outside, where the night had taken on a chill, but it was blessedly quiet. 

“Was that her?” Nina asked softly. “The Priestess you used to talk about?”

Sesshoumaru nodded. 

“Did you tell her...?”

“Who I am? No.” Sesshoumaru answered quickly. “No, it wouldn’t do for her to know just yet. It would be rude to barge in on her life as it were without invitation. Even if she seemed open to it. Perhaps it is best she never know.”

Nina frowned deeply.

“Daddio, I can’t imagine that’s a good idea. But you’re a full grown demon.” She said with a shrug. “You make your own decisions.”

He chuckled once more and flicked her nose before turning and headed for the nearest cab to avoid the blonde’s acrimonious wrath. Regardless of how it ended, Sesshoumaru was pleased with this evening. She spoken in passion about her independent contractor’s team find, and couldn’t keep the excitement out of her voice at the prospect of finding something she was sure existed. That lore and myth were not just those, but pieces of truth. She’d artfully skirted and danced around her truth - she knew what was true and what wasn’t. Instead of outright saying she thought they had found an old slayer village, she’d said it was a dig of old armor and unusually crafted weapons from some kind of clan that specialized in something. 

He knew the dig she spoke of - he was the one who had commissioned them to go up into the mountains to find the ruins of an old village he was sure existed. If anything, he’d put off going there to clean the area out himself, but the group had merit and where he was busy with other projects, he knew at his behest they would be bringing pieces back any day now. 

There were some piece of Japan’s history he was intent on preserving privately at the expense of the ignorance of the people living here. As was the case with more humans coming into the world and smothering out demon kind, he felt it was an eventuality that certain aspects of the past would be desecrated in the name of expansion. Sesshoumaru had already purchased long ago the parcels of land in which Rin had been buried to avoid such malfeasance. It was currently tended to as a national park. Now he was collecting remnants of the past he’d been too busy in the present at the time to realize needed saving. 

In a way, he was very much the the largest contributor of Japanese history to the museums as of late with the number of archaeological digs he was funding. Most of them were ecologically friendly, and if he visited a work site and found it was not to his liking, he’d been known to fire everyone on the spot, escorting the group off the site and leaving it until he found a suitable team. Motonobu Danske specialized in a minimalist field, where they went in with care before finding articles of value, and placing them under individual quarantine before bringing the haul off the mountain. 

The cab pulled to a stop in front of his home and he stepped through the gate after paying the driver and he went inside, pulling the laptop out. The work he’d been interrupted in was for the best. This interlude had inspired a devious idea that he had the worst desire to unfold in her life. He sat in the quiet peace of his home with the light of his kitchen on and decided to rework the new chapter he wanted to release.

~*~

Kagome’s drive home was positively floating. She parked in her designated parking spot and let her forehead drop against that steering wheel. Shoma had been kind enough to sit the and listen to her blather about history and her love for artifacts, even going so far as to inquire and ask questions while listening with a patience passing understanding. And the end there had a warm streak flaring down over her hips, sending her heart racing. It was almost like when she’d first met Danske, her passion for what he did melting in with how she felt about artifacts and preserving history. The newness of it all was enough to make her melt, and she wondered if maybe she was caught up in the newness of what was happening she was ignoring the good thing already in front of her. Kagome sighed and picked her forehead up off the steering wheel, and headed towards her apartment complex. Danske had called to invite her to the dig site this week, instead of sitting behind a desk. He’d managed to convince Sosuke to let her have at least a day to discover herself, and she was excited to say yes. But now it felt like she should commit herself more to the relationship with Danske.

Kagome locked the door of her apartment behind her and curled up on her couch, willing away this confusing mess. If only she’d listened to her instincts and just started off as friendly friends, refusing dates so she could keep her options open. Kagome pulled herself off the couch and rinsed in the shower before pulling on her pajamas, still unable to get those beautiful hazel eyes out of her head. Shoma’s face was all beautiful angles, and she was proud of herself for avoiding staring all the way up until the end. Then he touched her. She really didn’t want to be the kind of girl blushing through a whole conversation - it felt silly and childish. But the second he tilted her face just so... 

“We must stop meeting this way, Miko.” 

Damn him. 

She’d had plenty of time to let go of his memory, to grow beyond it and find her own place in the world she’d been thrown back in. Up until now, she had. But this deep voiced guy was inspiring all kinds of ridiculous fantasies, going so far as to chalk them up standing in her room in nothing but his pelt and hakama. Then Shoma’s gentle burning hands and that almost kiss...   
Kagome smothered her face in her hands rubbing furiously at her now cleaned face. This was unrealistic expectations at their finest, and she knew it wasn’t fair to the guy she was trying with. She had to stop this silliness. It was one thing to listen to a podcast, and entirely another to cheat on the guy she was seeing with some random dude at the bar. Even if he was ruggedly handsome and made her want to run her hands through that long hair of his. Just once... She would imagine being with a guy like Shoma. She’d probably never see the man again, and just like the voice on the podcast, it wasn’t outright cheating if there was only a voice, only the imagined feeling of his hands spreading her thighs while he kissed her senseless. 

The following morning, Kagome woke for work, dressed professionally and headed to the office at the back of the museum, using her employee pass to open the door. Sosuke was a busy flurried ball of a man, rummaging through this and that. His eye fell on her and he was all smiles.

“Kagome! Welcome, welcome! You had a good weekend?” He ignored her answer, shuffling forward to pull her further into the building. “Fantastic. Something arrived for you from one of our benefactors, and I’m supremely curios as to what it is given the nature of it’s arrival. It is in one of those specialty briefcases of sorts and was delivered with a specific request to send it to you. I, of course, recognize the address for what it is and who its from, and must ask if I can attend its opening!”

He was so excited, pushing her towards the little corner office she’d holed up in most of her days that she was practically running with him at her back. True to his word, a briefcase sat on her desk that gleamed almost maliciously at her in the dusty brown tones of her workplace. It was the newest thing in the room, and being surrounded by all the aging parchment, scrolls, bookends and bones only made it that much more intimidating to walk into the room with. 

“Who is this from?” She asked again, poking the case.

“One of our anonymous and very wealthy benefactors. There isn’t a name attached to this gentleman, but he has donated many pieces to our care over the last few years.” 

Kagome nodded and draped her coat on the iron coat rack in the corner before approaching it slowly. It was like handling a jack-in-the-box - she was a bit scared as to what would jump out at her. She snapped the sides of the chic metal case open, and was met with a small note on pressed linen paper. It even smelled expensive. Opening it slowly, she read it out loud.

“Enclosed is a piece for your study. At your leisure, write an honest report about what it was used for before sending it back. This piece is your payment for the report and is priceless. There is not another like it in its condition.”

She passed the note back to Sosuke, donning clean white inspection gloves before she unfolded the black cloth wrapped around whatever was sent reverently. The black cloth pulled away and a familiar kanji pattern on it. She raised it gently out and found a black jumpsuit folded neatly atop a collection of plates that were faded greenish blue. Tears sprang to her eyes as she realized what it was. 

“We need to move this to a larger clean table. I need to see it laid out.”

Sosuke scurried over and helped her clear a new table, lining it with plastic before she pulled the suit out. It looked to be about an average man’s sized slayer jumpsuit, complete with its protective demon bone coverings. It was not a replica, as she recognized the material as lining up with Sango’s original suit. Everything was made of recycled demonic parts, including the jumpsuit’s material. It was a spun polymer they had a lengthy process working into crafting each suit that a slayer got as soon as they came into the business of demon slaying. She placed the plates where they belonged, the shoulder plates, groin plate, shin plate and elbow guards all laying out with brilliant green sashes that tied them on. 

Laying in all of its glory was a full slayer suit, clearly made for a man. Kagome marveled at how well kept it was. It was as though it had never even been used. No scratches, rips in the fabric, nothing to suggest it had ever had any kind of blood or acid on it. Whoever had sent this piece had held onto it for a long time, and kept it pristine. Her gloved fingers ran over the material tenderly as she was lost in thought. 

“Do you know what it is?” Sosuke asked. Kagome considered her answer at first before nodding.

“I do. It’s a slayer suit.”

“A what?” 

“A slayer suit. Villages would hire demon slayers for when they had trouble with the local spirits pestering the village. There was a clan of warriors back in the day that would be hired out to deal with these restless spirits.”

Sosuke’s frowned at her, looking doubtful.

“What sources do you cite for this theory?” 

Kagome sighed. Ah yes; she had to cite written work for this.

“I don’t remember the author, but I will meet the requirements of the report that was requested.”

Sosuke frowned, but nodded. 

“It looks brand new. Are you sure this is an artifact?”

“From what I remember, the suits last a very long time because of their material. I honestly hope this isn’t a replica, but it looks like its original.” 

Kagome circled the table countless time, not wanting to leave it even though she knew there were stacks of paperwork to be done before she left on Wednesday to visit Danske’s dig site. 

“Hey Sosuke, I’m cleared for the day on Wednesday right?”

“Oh yes dear, of course. Danske has some exciting things he wants to show you. I dare say, he makes it sound like this benefactor is onto an entirely new find, the likes of something we’ve never seen before.”

Kagome nodded.

“I’ll finish drawing up the documents for a few of the pieces you wanted for next month’s showcase by the end of the week. Maybe even by the end of today. If I can, I’d like to spend more time at the dig site depending what it is. It’s been way too long since I’ve been in the field.”

Sosuke nodded, his fingers stroking that ridiculously thick mustache as he considered her. 

“It never hurts to get out of the office and back into the field. If you have all the paperwork before the end of the week you can use the remaining time to check Danske’s site. All the bits and pieces here that need care aren’t due for the checkups until later in the month.” 

Kagome hugged the aging man tight and scrambled back to her office, tossing her gloves over her shoulder onto the examination table they’d set up for her newest muse. A renewed exuberance for her paperwork was born in that moment, and she sat down at her desk, calling delivery for her morning cup of coffee and lunch to be dropped off. Pulling her glasses down, she read through and knew if she managed to organize the mess and tier the work, she could have it done just after the museum closed for the day if she wasn’t called on for anything else. With a fresh resolve, she set to her task.

~*~

Kagome felt someone nudge her on the desk and she started awake wiping at the drool staining her notepad. Scrubbing at her face she picked up her pen and blinked owlishly around her.

“Yes, what? What can I help you with?” 

“Kagome, go home. You’ve done plenty today.” Sosuke said gently, tucking his monocle into his breast pocket. Kagome shook her head.

“No, no, I’m fine. I have a few more contracts to read through before I’m completely finished with this week’s paperwork.” She insisted with a yawn. Sosuke sighed.

“Very well, but make sure to lock the airlock on your way out.” 

Kagome nodded and stretched as he hobbled out the door. She stood and checked her reflection in a compact, swearing under her breath when she noticed some black ink smudged on her cheek. Her watch said it was nearly seven at night, and she knew the last of her paperwork should only actually take a little over half an hour. If she snapped to it, she could get it done quickly. Kagome made a lap around the slayer suit she received, picking up paper with the note on it again to look at the writing. 

It was clean smooth lines, written in confident short strokes. The paper itself was scented, and the linen was a sure fire hint that whoever it was had money. She shook her head. The things people with money spent it on was ridiculous. At least whoever it was had the taste to keep artifacts in perfect condition. She sat down at her desk again, hating the paperwork but knowing keeping her nose to the grindstone would allow more time outside of the office. 

It was a little later than she anticipated, and when she was done, she saw Danske had texted asking if she wanted to get beers over an hour ago. She did want to try a new beer, and the pub seemed like a welcome warm place. She headed that way, parking beside the bistro. It wasn’t nearly as busy as it was the other night, and she looked around for Shoma before texting Danske to let him know she would meet him there if he was still up for beers. She felt a bit out of place in her houndstooth dress skirt, black knit top and matching pumps, but her sleep tousled hair from her impromptu nap on the desk clearly marked her done with work. If anything, she was getting looks from the men of the pub and knew by the sneer she’d be fending off a few men this evening. She took a seat close to the bartender she knew as Aniah, hoping that she would be her bartender. Aniah gave her a small wave, but was not her tender. Instead, a girl with fire engine red hair came over and introduced herself quickly, asking for her order. Kagome decided on the flight to try the full range of beers, and thanked her waitress when she brought the samples over. She was midway through her second when a tap on her shoulder made her start and turn.

“Hey Danske -” 

Shoma’s beautiful face hovered over her and she nearly dropped the highball glass she was holding.

“Hey! You!” She stuttered. He seemed humored by her flustering, but pointed to the empty stool beside her.

“Is this seat taken? Or are you awaiting Danske?” His voice... She almost felt like his hand was smoothing up her thigh, under her skirt. 

“Uh, well I was kinda waiting for him to respond but I haven’t heard anything.” She answered honestly. “I don’t see why you can’t join me.”

He sat gracefully, nodding to her beers. “I see you are broadening horizons?”

She shrugged. “I only ever really drink pales - I wanted to know what else was here.”

“That is a good jump-off. Their red is truly a delight.” He motioned to the second to last of the glasses that had been poured, and she nodded.

Aniah waved from her spot at the bar with a smile, and her red-haired coworker took Shoma’s order. 

“So are you seeing this Danske?” He inquired. Kagome dreaded the conversation, but pushed the irritation down.

“I am. We work in the same basic field, and every now and again he finds something that makes me feel like a teenager again.” She answered wistfully. “We’re dating right now, but that’s all. It hasn’t been long enough that it’s a serious relationship.”

Shoma thanked the waitress for his beer and took a slow pull, simply listening before adding to the conversation. 

“Is a serious relationship your intention?”

Kagome shrugged, running her hand through her hair and twisting a fat bunch of strands. 

“I think everyone wants someone they can rely on, go on adventures and such with. Danske and I have some of the same interests, and I could see it going farther... But..”

Shoma’s eyebrow raised in a hauntingly similar fashion that made her giggle into her beer.

“What?”

“It’s nothing, you just remind me of someone.”

“That is the second time since knowing me you have said as much. May I ask who it is that distracts you from me by comparison?”

His forwardness surprised her, but he didn’t sound offended. He sounded genuinely curious, and his eyes... God, she could get lost in them. He was so damnably attractive for some reason, she couldn’t put her finger on it. There was just something he did to her stomach at his nearness. Her stomach did a flip, and her skin wanted to feel the brush of his fingers. She couldn’t place his voice, even though it sounded ridiculously familiar. 

“I knew him a long time ago. He was a pompous ass, but he had commendable qualities.” She said wistfully. “He was a creature of honor.” 

There was a snort and Kagome noticed Shoma was wiping beer off his placid face. 

“Did ... Are you mocking my observation of character?!” She gasped, feigning hurt. 

“No, of course not. Creature of honor. Never heard it said this way.” He laughed, smile revealing one unnaturally long k-nine and a dimple. “I shall log it and use it later.” 

Kagome shook her head.

“I have to wonder, though. Did you just pop by... Or are you friends with our barmaid?” She asked coyly. She’d had a hunch for a while, but decided if she ever saw him again she’d ask.

“You are perceptive. I would be remiss if I told you she didn’t call me.” 

Kagome gave him a sly smirk. 

“So what kind of relationship do you have with Aniah?”

“We were lovers. Nothing more.”

Kagome finished her second in the flight and reached for the red, taking a sip and humming.

“That’s rich. And really? That’s all?” 

“It is no less than you gave us in your answer regarding Danske.”

She poked his hand and yelped when she felt a static shock, sucking on her finger. What the hell? That was the second time she’d been shocked touching the guy. Her eyes narrowed and she wondered why his face seemed to pale and flicker before her eyes.

“Kagome!”

Her head snapped around and Danske stood at the front of the pub, heading over. He positioned himself beside her on the right, where Shoma was sitting on her left.

“Are you gonna introduce me to your friend?”

Kagome smiled.

“Right - Shoma, this is Danske, the guy I told you about. Danske, this is Shoma!” 

Danske reached over Kagome to offer his hand, which Shoma merely nodded at. Danske looked a touch put out, but nudged Kagome with his hand on her waist. 

“Talking about me already?”

Kagome blushed and shrugged. “Just about how I happened upon this place.”

He looked at her selection of beers and kissed her cheek. “I’m glad you like it enough to come back. You must have come straight here after work; your work clothes are always beautiful. So classy.” He gushed. Shoma’s face was placid and unreadable. 

“I managed to finish my paperwork to join you at the dig-site tomorrow early.” 

He nodded and waved the bartender down to order the same thing she was drinking. 

“That’s great! We are about to come into a cavernous area under an old castle that was covered in rubble. It has great potential to have stored goods underneath it that might give us a better look at the time period it was built.”  
Kagome nodded.

“Oh! Did I tell you a benefactor set in a new artifact today?”  
Danske shook his head, riveted already. She could see the excitement in the back of his eyes and she smiled.

“So I believe its a traditional slayer outfit, but its in such good condition I have to wonder if its a replica. The material feels genuine, but I don’t think that Sosuke believes the lore behind it, so I’m going to have to find proper citation and lore that supports my theories.” 

Danske shook his head.

“You always did have the wildest ideas about history, Kagome.”

“If you are in need of access to older books, I have a resource that I can make available to you.” Shoma’s smooth voice interjected. Kagome looked over and blinked.

“You know, I could see that being useful. Here.” Kagome called Aniah over, requested a pen and a napkin to write her number down before sliding it over to Shoma. “Text me the address and let me know if there is a cover charge for entrance.”

He half shrugged, half nodded and took another swig from his mug. His sudden chill was certainly reminiscent of Sesshoumaru, that was for sure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are blessed by the writing gods - Thank you, milomai19, Lynn_Nexus, bandcandygiles, mim, and MoniqueFrost~!  
> Constructive criticism is always welcome!  
> Thank you for reading!


	5. To Have it and Not Need it - Until Now

Triumph raged in Sesshoumaru as she slid the phone number on the napkin towards him. He nodded, his features still a mask of unmoving serenity, but it was her male counterpart’s flashing glare before she turned back to him that allowed for the softest, most malicious smile he had. The man didn’t seem phased, if anything, he was angrier as the smile developed. Victory was a beautiful thing when it was written in an opponents vengeful mire; though Sesshoumaru was not one to waste energy on needless gloating. 

He sat with the pair of them and listened in the background, even as Aniah reacted hilariously furious as he sat in silence. While the couple was not paying attention, her irritated looks and mouthings of, ‘ _ Get in there you idiot! _ ’ were his entertainment. Kagome was on her last beer, a dark draft that had her face scrunched and shoulders bunched.

“Super strong. Wow. That’s like...” She hesitated and Danske leapt to supply.

“Dark cocoa right?”

She shook her head and sputtered a bit.

“No, no its like a mouthful of dirt.” She corrected. “You can have it if you like, its just not for me.”  
There was a flicker of disappointment on the boy’s face, and Sesshoumaru took another sip of his own beer. 

“Shall I ask what your favorite was?” 

Kagome’s doe-brown eyes flicked back to him as she grinned.

“Yeah, I have to say I prefer the blondes. I like the clean taste; I feel like if you wanted to make it more flavorful, it wouldn’t be hard. I could see liking a stout if it weren’t so earthy. Maybe something a bit sweeter.”  
Sesshoumaru nodded behind another long pull from his sweating glass. 

“I imagine you two have some catching up. Pardon my intrusion. It was a delight to see you again, Kagome.” He caught her hand and brushed a kiss on the back of it. “Until next time.” 

There was a flare of testosterone and copper flushed anger as he released her as quickly and made his way to the end of the bar Aniah was standing, eyeing the three of them. She pulled a tight smile up as he approached and leaned forward on the bar on both elbows.

“What the fuck?” She hissed through her teeth with that charming smile still in place. “I set that girl up like a sundae on a silver fucking tray. What happened?”

Sesshoumaru gave her a nonplused smile, and she looked about ready to howl at him and slap him across the face. 

“I did plenty of damage to her current relationship thanks to you, Aniah.” He raised his glass to her shocked look and took a long pull.

“Wait, she’s dating someone already? Danske’s dating that chick?” 

“It was not our intention to intervene. Your phone call and our current presence may shorten it’s duration.” Her shock gave way to a gleeful smile as she danced behind the bar like a fool. 

“Ya’ll can thank me later, sexy beast.”

“What? No discontent at losing a lover?” He feigned hurt. She threw a bar towel at him.

“Honey, I have plenty of fuck buddies. Yeah, you’re one of the better ones... But I’m not hear-broken if you’re happy. Y’know?”

Sesshoumaru nodded mutely as he folded the towel and pushed it back over the dark wood of the bar. 

“In the meantime, what’s your plan with her?” Aniah asked, now brazenly staring at the couple as they spoke. The whelp had taken to leaning on the counter as he listened like a love-struck pigeon to Kagome speak animatedly about her excitement for the coming adventure he was taking her on and Sesshoumaru could feel his eyes darken.

“We would sacrifice a limb to know ourselves, Aniah.” He responded coolly. There was no shred of a plan. If fate intended to throw them together over and over, there was nothing he would do to stop it. 

*  _ The Feudal Era _ *

It had been a hard month since his banter with her at the local hot springs had left Kagome completely bereft of words towards the elder Inu brother. She flinched when his name was brought up, and hilariously enough her scent changed even further when he crossed their path with intentions of leaving Rin briefly in their care. With the old woman teaching his ward uses for herbs and making salves, she had access to the slayers who were teaching her how to defend herself. Sesshoumaru did not find them formidable opponents himself - but every little bit to allow Rin the best opportunity at growth was all he asked. The young priestess was entertainment enough the last few times that it provoked him to stick around the outskirts of the village, if only to allow for the villagers a sense of normalcy when his magnanimous self was out of their visage. 

He enjoyed prodding at her energy though, and the number of times he could get her to trip or fall was how he passed the time quickly. His favorite so far was the time she had been distracted enough it had caused a large chain reaction within her pack. The fox kit’s tail was stepped on, and Kagome stumbled hard, firewood flying from her arms and hitting Inuyasha’s sensitive head and ears. He had spun, catching both the priest and his slayer on the backside with the monk’s staff as he twisted to berate the clumsy girl, causing both of them to tumble forward into the small ditch beside the hit. 

She was positively tripping over her apologies, and while Sesshoumaru did not fall out of the tree with his laughter, he did need to relocate before it burst from his throat in a harsh bark at her expense. This time, he had followed her as she held a fish basket to the river to poke at her ire with his youki. She had begun responding in kind, occasionally able to catch herself before it frightened her when she was able to identify him quickly. This time, he was careful to conceal himself, watching her carefully pick her way down to the water on the rocky, sandy bank. She left her sandals and went to position the basket just so, and when he was sure she was at her most vulnerable, he loosed a hot tendril of his energy, whipping it across the back side of her body. 

“Shit!”

She over corrected, arms fluttering akimbo as she screamed and fell into the water in a sputtering, swearing mess as she came back to the surface with a shout. Her usually lustrous black hair was stuck in a wet mop over her face, the white haori and red pants clinging to her as she fought not to fall on the algae slickened rocks beneath the surface of the water. After a long few moments of stumbling, she managed to get herself and the basket back onto the shore where he knelt, waiting for her to clear enough of her hair from her face she could see his outstretched hand. She pulled some of her hair out of her mouth, and her eyes were delightfully wrathful.

“Sesshoumaru you stupid -” 

The outstretched hand put a finger to her lips before she could swear again.

“Do not make us teach you better uses for your mouth than those of curses, Priestess.” He rumbled merrily. “You have been terribly prone to foulness unbecoming of your station. Even if it is humorous to watch a priestess curse a demon.”

Her hand slapped against his as she took it and he helped draw her up. A glance over her and the smirk he’d been wearing was slowly dissipating. The priestess had forgone the customary garments beneath her haori, rendering the white material completely see through to his sharp eyes. Her breasts were rosy and puckered, cold against the chill of the water from the river even as her entire being was filled with fiery annoyance. It was the slip of the wet knots that was driving him to distraction, as the material of her traditional garb clung to her as a second skin and had slipped down further than was proper. The flash of tan-lined cleavage had his mouth watering, and the flash of heat he scented didn’t help. 

“Sesshoumaru..” She said softly. Her brows were knotted in confusion, her hand still gripped in his unintentionally.

“We escort you to the village. The transparency of your clothing makes you indecent.” He murmured. He watched her throat swallow as she searched him. One harsh tug had her pressed against him with a yelp of surprise, and before he could register the chill of her skin, he was in the air streaking towards the village. It was no difficult task to have her in the hut she shared with her friends, which happened to be empty today. He turned to let her change when she called to him.

“Why are you fu-” She hesitated when he raised his brow, flushing a touch. “Why are you messing with me?” 

He let his eyes drift to where the haori clung to her navel, making no effort to conceal as he took in her pleasant form. 

“We find you flustered engaging.” 

She frowned hard at him, crossing her arms over her chest. 

“Am I just some kind of game for you to pass the time?” She bit.

“Not in the least. We find it more savory in your presence.” He took a step forward and pulled a thick, still wet strand of her hair off of her forehead, tucking it where she had the rest of it tucked. “Shall we desist?”

She blinked at him, prey staring at predator unflinchingly.   
“I don’t.. Maybe don’t try to drown me next time?” He could hear the hitch in her breath as his finger brushed over her cheek. 

“We aspire not to kill you in the future.” He chuckled, turning and exiting this time. The sweet spice of her arousal followed him out even if it wasn’t intentional on her part. A perfect parting gift, he surmised as this became decidedly more favorable than the other times he’d startled her.

*  _ Present _ * 

The couple were rising, Kagome at the very least looking happier than when he’d sat down to share a beer. She glanced at him at the end of the bar and flashed him an innocent smile that sent pleasant memories punching through his gut. Aniah was shaking her head at the edge of his periff and he gave her a questioning look. 

“You should see the way you look. I’m gonna catch a picture of it one of these times. Makes me sad.” She sighed, looking back down at the glass she was polishing. 

~*~

The alarm Kagome set didn’t wake her up - no it was the sheer anticipation of getting to go to the dig site in northern Japan was enough to wake her at odd hours. Danske had promised to drive her in his truck, which wouldn’t make great time, but would be able to get them to and from the work site. She’d called ahead and reserved a room so she could stay overnight, and he could pick her up from there instead of her apartment hours away. 

When he called to let her know that he was there, she was already out the door with a nifty bright yellow backpack filled with a change of clothes, a towel, a bar of multitasking soap in a tin, and a few snacks and water. She smirked. Not her first outing in the wilds, and she’d definitely learned to downsize these days. Danske looked like a cat fat on cream as she all but jumped into the cab of the company truck. The rode, discussing the age of the find and what he expected to find, and the hours went by so quickly that he was turning onto a back road. There was an offshoot that had clearly just been cleared, and Kagome yelped as the cab tossed her around even with the seat belt on. She grabbed whatever she could trying to stay grounded in her seat and couldn’t help the annoyed glance she sent to her laughing counterpart. They came to a stop just outside a group of bulldozers and other heavy equipment that had helped them carve out the new road. She could see where there were tents set up and ditches were dug to funnel away any rainwater.

They hopped out and headed for the largest of the tents where people were filtering in and out and Kagome was introduced to a team of archaeologists that intended to go down into the castle ruins. After shaking hands with a fair number of Danske’s team, he lead her to another tent where they had already begun to lay out a number of artifacts found strewn in the dirt around the area. Kagome witheld a soft gasp as she recognized a number of slayer’s weapons, even plate armor made of demon bone. 

“Danske do you even know what you have?” She breathed, snatching her hands away before she gave into the urge to run her finger over one of the chain sickles. Danske laughed.  
“Well, not yet because we haven’t been able to age it yet, but I have a hunch there will be something down below once we open enough of it up to figure it out.”

“Be careful.. There’s bound to be traps in a place like this.” She answered absently, hardly thinking about it before it left her mouth. Danske’s head tilted.

“How’d you come to that logic?”   
Kagome blinked.   
“Oh.. well I’m just saying, these old castles... Well some of them were well armed, and a few of them have been known to be booby trapped.”  
Danske shook his head.

“This isn’t Indiana Jones, Kagome. Nothing down there but history.”

Kagome shrugged.

It was a little ways past noon when the group finally decided on a risk management plan for how they were going in, what the intention was, and how they would come back out safely. Once they’d gone through a few emergency scenarios, they gave Kagome a hardhat and a flashlight, and proceeded to where they had managed to dig enough out of the front end of the ruins that one body at a time could safely get out. The first two, a young man and woman slid down. Danske and Kagome were next, followed by two larger men behind them. Darkness enveloped them, and Kagome felt an odd pulse of warning coming from it. She waited for her eyes to adjust before switching her lamplight. The two before them were ducked low, slowly sliding down the mound of dirt covering the entrance until she could hear the soft shuffle of shoes on stone. She followed suit, glad she had chosen to wear jeans to the occasion as the moistened dirt wet her jeans. She landed close to the other two, Danske behind her and the soft, warm pulse hit her again.

“Guys... Something’s wrong. Something feels off. Please be extra careful.” She warned. Nobody acknowledged her warning, rather moving forward with barely concealed zeal and caution. The darkness cloaking them was hiding something malevolent, and Kagome couldn’t put her finger on it. The first two moved forward, their lamps lighting the way deeper into the buried ruins. One was cooing about the molding tapestries on the wall, ruined paper littering the sides of the walls. There was the occasional rotten wood piece that Kagome wanted to search, but they were mapping out the ruins first. All six of them would be walking straight back to the farthest point and marking where it ended before they started exploring. The first woman had a camera that was taking pictures of the main hallway as they slowly walked along. The farther back into the castle they went, the harder Kagome fought against dread. It seemed to peak at a certain point, and she passed by it with the group trying to mark the spot in her memory. Once they hit they end, one of the gentlemen behind them scribbled something on the paper and they turned back around. 

The first room they came to has a closed door that the young man opened cautiously on Kagome’s warning. The room was mostly bare except a pile of old reed woven baskets, some scrollwork on the walls, and some bins hosting large bones that Kagome recognized easily. This was definitely the ruins of an old demon slaying compound; she just never realized there was more than one. The two in front of her were babbling excitedly at the prospect of having found dinosaur bones collected by whoever lived here.

“You’ve been super quiet since we entered. What’s wrong?” Danske asked. “You were so excited on the way up.”

Kagome cleared her throat a touch as she glanced around the room. 

“Did I ever tell you I grew up at a shrine?” She said. She couldn’t see his expression, and pressed on. “I was taught the basics of being a shrine maiden, and even briefly carried the title of the Guardian of the Shikon Jewel. By the time I graduated, I could have been a full blown priestess if I had stayed.”

“That’s interesting, and I get why you’d be interested in history after something like that... But what does it have to do with this - ” 

“As a priestess, it was my duty to purify evil or restless spirits and send them back to those realms they belonged. Because of this, I have...” She sighed. “I have what could be argued a strong perception of spirits. I know not everyone believes in such things these days.. But I’m telling you. Experience is telling me this place has malevolence and anger, and there is a dark spiritual aura here that we’ll be coming back on.”

Danske was silent in the darkness, and after the photographer and her partner had cataloged the room the moved back into the man hall, checking the open room across the way that had nothing but moldy bedding and linens. They cataloged and moved on. The group continued on as the risk management team had discussed until they were upon the room Kagome marked as dangerous. Before the photographer grasped the door, Kagome was in front of her.

“Wait!” She insisted. “Please, let me go first.” 

The young woman huffed and shook her head, pushing her out of the way.  
“That’s not how we’re doing this. Follow the rules, dude, or next time we’re leaving your ass up top.” 

Kagome’s heart dropped, but she slowly moved farther back, grasping Danske’s arm to pull him back gently. There was no hesitation after Kagome’s interruption, and the photographer pulled the door open with respect to the old age. Her nerves were frayed the farther the door creaked open, and once it hit the back wall she had almost managed to convince herself she was just being sensitive. The two walked in, and the first flash of the camera triggered a hissing explosion that rocked Kagome off of her feet and smashing into Danske. 

There was an acrid scent that put Kagome’s anxiety through the roof - miasma flooded the main room and she knew she had only a few seconds to try to collect everyone.  
“Are you guys okay?” She shouted behind her.   
“Yeah!”  
“Stay next to me!” She called, voice shaking as she desperately called upon her powers as a priestess. It had been years since she’d tried to form a barrier. In fact, her shaking hands and the snapping of unfettered purity was making it difficult to form it. Time was an object that wouldn’t slow, and her pounding heart flooding her body with adrenaline was not making it any easier to focus. She prayed for strength and coughed on the miasma, finally managing to pull together a basic barrier. The others managed to stop coughing, but she was out of reach of the photographer and her safety partner. They had precious little time to save them, and haul them out to treat the poisoning before they were eaten alive by the miasma. 

“Get up. Get up!” Kagome shouted. “We need to get to the other two before the miasma kills them!” 

Danske looked confused but the other two had him sitting up and over their arms, following Kagome’s command and lead. They edged into the room and Kagome saw the other two flat on the floor covered in rocks and debris. She grabbed the girls by her ankles and pulled as hard as she could towards her, managing to drag most of her body close enough that one of the big guys behind her could grab one of her ankles and dragged her forward. Sweat was beading on Kagome’s brow as she kept trying to focus on the barrier around her. Working her spiritual powers was like trying to lift one hundred and fifty pounds when she hadn’t lifted ten pounds in the last decade, and the exertion had her worried she wouldn’t be able to maintain the barrier long enough for them to make the trek back out. 

She spotted the last member under more debris and swore under her breath. There was a larger beam on top of him, and she knew they would have to edge farther into the miasma filled room to save him.

“We have to get closer. Stay close, or the poison will kill you. We need to get him out, but we can’t reach him from here.” She felt her power waver a touch, but bolstered it stubbornly before it could flicker out. Danske was on his feet, letting one of the larger guys carry the small woman bridal style as they stayed close to Kagome as she moved forward. The beam of her head lantern showed the culprit. Somehow, there were still decaying demonic remains in the room. It was the cause of the miasma, and upon being exposed to the flash of the photographer’s camera had split open and spilled the poisonous substance into the room. 

“Hey - big guy.”  
“Jose.” 

“Jose, see him? I can’t move that beam without your help. I can’t lower this barrier or the poison will get in; I need your help moving the beam on top of him.”   
Jose nodded and came beside her. 

“I can’t see what you are protecting us with. Tell me when to stop.”

He moved forward slowly until she instructed him to crawl forward, and moved with him slowly. He had one hand on the beam when a movement in the corner caught her eye.

“Shit! Hurry!” Kagome cried out. Remnants of a live demon shifted to wakefulness as sutras fell away. Part of slayers processing demons was that most of them were captured and kept alive so they could be harvested before the bodies were purified by local priests and priestesses. Jose lifted the heavy wooden beam quickly, dipping outside the barrier and coughing violently as he grabbed at the second person and hauled them back violently towards Kagome. 

“We need to leave now. I don’t have any weapons, and I can’t stop that thing waking up.”  
“What thing?”

“It doesn’t matter we need to leave! Hurry!”

Jose managed to haul the other man up over his shoulder, and they made their way back towards the hole they jumped down through where people were calling their names.

“Stand back! Its poisoned!” She screamed as loud as she could. Turning to the two larger men, she stood close enough to the hole that it was plugged with the round barrier, trapping the miasmic smoke inside the castle.   
“I need one of you up there, and the other helping everyone out.” She instructed. Jose nodded, leaning the photographer’s limp body against Danske who still looked pale and shaken from the initial explosion. The man behind them carrying the photographer passed her body up to his counterpart, who managed to get her body out of the hole and they were dragged away. They repeated the process with her partner, then reached for Danske. 

“Wait. Kagome - you should -”   
“Don’t even. You can’t handle what’s here and I tried to warn all of you. Go.” Kagome snapped. Danske didn’t even have the energy to argue, and grasped Jose’s hand. The last person out was Jose’s safety buddy, and Kagome started to relax a touch. She managed to reach Jose’s hand when something struck her. If she didn’t deal with the miasma, there would be no way to safely pull anything out of there. She pulled back, and Jose’s face crumpled with confusion.  
“Miss you need to get out of there!”

“Step away from the hole. Do not come after me. Do not let anyone near the smoke. Even if something happens to me, do NOT let anyone in here except an experienced priest.” She warned before turning back to the darkness of the ruins. “Someone go get me one of the weapons on the table. If you have a bow or something that would be preferable, but I’ll take a spear or the like.” She called. Jose still seemed confused, but snapped away to get what she asked. He was back with a sharpened piece of bamboo.  
“Will this work for what you need?”

Kagome nodded soberly before facing the darkness.

“I’ll try and make this quick...” She said softly as she made her way back down the dirt hill. Her shoes shuffled along the stone again, and her body sung with tension. There was a demon with enough power to generate miasma down here, but hopefully it was weak enough she could eliminate it quickly. And hopefully, that was the only one down here. Kagome gathered her wits and stepped forward into the darkness, clutching the makeshift bamboo spear. She followed her senses, pure barrier clearing the miasma as she walked along until she came back to the room where the demon had slid off the hook from the ceiling. She didn’t see it and worried it may have gotten past her, as the miasma was beginning to clear enough that she felt she didn’t need the barrier as much anymore and dropped it as she reached out with her senses, looking for it. In the quick seconds her barrier dropped and she began searching for the malevolent force, a loud squealing roar, like metal nails rolling in a concrete truck pierced her ears and she started as it flew from behind the door.

It was a snake-like with piercing talons that snatched at Kagome’s long sleeved shirt, digging into her flesh as it screamed at her. Kagome tried to ignore the searing pain of those talons long enough to imbue her bamboo with purifying power and shoved it into the writhing creature, purifying it in one smooth strike. She felt relief flow through her until another screaming mass of demon launched itself at her, squirming tentacles reaching for her with a bellow sounding like gears grinding. Kagome managed to pulse her purifying energy quick enough to the tip of the spear the writhing demon was ash before her. She searched the room, confidence growing with every demon she purified that the next would be the last. 

After four of the wriggling beasts, she was starting to grow tired and had wounds to match. Her jeans and shirt were ripped beyond repair, and she was starting to get tired. So far, there was nothing else she could see in that one room that would need her care. She tried to bless as many things possible, mourning some of the lost pieces as it dissipated under her holy touch but knowing it was for the best. She limped back towards the entrance, struggling up the mound and calling for anyone in range.   
“I need some help out.” She called weakly. Jose appeared immediately, grabbing her forearm and hoisting her out of the hole like she was nothing. It wasn’t until she was in the dusky light of evening she realized just how long she’d been down there, and her adrenaline filled body was beginning to give way to her exhaustion. Shaking knees wouldn’t hold her up anymore, and he shouted when she dropped with a manic laugh to the ground. 

“Hey, are you all right?” He asked, concern shading his face. The rest of the team surrounded her, helping her up as she stood and she laughed again as she nodded.   
“It’s just been a while is all.”

“What the hell happened down there?” The site manager, a dark haired woman asked. “We kept hearing these awful noises. What the fuck was down there?”

“You don’t wanna know.” Kagome sighed. The bespectacled woman stared down the bridge of her nose.  
“I have to for posterity. This goes into a report for the benefactor to review. You need medical care, and we need to make sure it gets paid for appropriately.”

“Can.. Maybe.. Do later?” She felt her consciousness slipping a touch and her helper was carrying more and more of her weight.

“She has a few really deep cuts on her arm. The bleeding is probably causing her weakness. We need to treat it quickly. What about all the poisons we breathed in? Most of us are coming around but should we be worried?” He asked her. She shook her head slowly. 

“As soon as you entered the purity of my barrier, the demonic miasma was cleansed. As long as you stayed away from the smoke like I told you to, you’ll be fine.”

Danske finally made his way over to the large meeting tent where they had her propped up on a table, trying to keep her awake.   
“You weren’t joking about the priestess stuff, were you...?” He asked quietly. Kagome tried not to be embarrassed.

“I don’t usually tell people about my life as a kid. It was... Way more adventurous than people think it was.” She laughed nervously and pointed to her arm. “This really used to be a typical Tuesday for me.”

He shook his head and offered her a drawn smile.  
“Well, I guess its a good thing you were here then. I don’t know what we would’ve done.”

‘ _ You all would’ve died is what.. _ ’ Kagome groused inwardly, trying to get the world to stop lurching. They had managed to treat most of her wounds, but she would have to take stock of what happened at the hotel room.   
“To be honest, all I want right now is a hot shower and some sleep. Would you mind taking me to the hotel?” 

He nodded. “Sure Kagome.”

They drove in silence, and Danske helped her up to her room. 

“Not gonna lie.. If it weren’t for the artifacts and their significance to some of the things I learned as a kid, I would probably tap out and go home.” She sighed, sitting on the bed of her hotel. Danske sat beside her on the bed.

“You sure you’re okay? It wouldn’t hurt my feelings if you took the train home tomorrow.”

She shook her head.  
“I’ll make that call tomorrow morning when I get up. It looks bad right now, but I’ll feel better after I clean up. I’m fine.” She insisted. He nodded. 

“You really are an amazing woman, Kagome.” Danske said softly. He kissed her dirt smeared cheek before rising and bidding her a good night. She wanted to stretch, but before she did she went to the bathroom and studied her reflection. Dirt was everywhere, and her clothes were a mess. She mourned the green knitted long sleeved shirt. Her jeans were in worse disrepair - huge cuts and holes in the crisp denim were stained with dirt and blood. It really was a throwback to the Feudal Era. She hadn’t been this tired in years. Slowly and carefully slipping out of her ruined clothing, she tossed them in the corner and was down to her underwear when her phone chimed with an incoming call.   
She limped out to the bedroom and saw an unfamiliar number.

“Hello?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are as delicious as Gravy soaked stuffing on Thanksgiving Day with hot Turkey. Thank you for blessing me, bandcandygiles, Lynn_Nexus, and milomai19! Constructive Criticism is welcome.  
> Happy Holidays, my darling readers! Have an incredible one! And thank you for reading!  
> Love, Cougar


	6. Sexy Phone  Voice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ladies, Gentlemen, because we all know this particular Holiday is filled with unpleasant relatives or obnoxious politically based conversations NOBODY wants to have at the dinner table, my gift to you is the gift of distraction.   
> Please enjoy an extra chapter of Smooth Like Velvet!  
> With love, Cougar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are spending the holidays drunk with someone you love! So much fun! Thank you, milomai19, mim and Lynn_Nexus! Constructive criticism is always welcome!  
> Happy Holidays babies!

“Kagome?”

She nodded as though the man on the phone could see her and felt stupid.

“This is she?”

“It is Shoma. We met at the bar?”

Kagome frowned. What was he doing calling her?  
“Hey. If its all right, would you mind if I called you back? Its been... A really rough day.” She sighed, wincing as pain lanced down her forearm. “There was a bit of an issue at the site today.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. I was just about to shower. Can I call you back?” She repeated tiredly.

“Of course. I am terribly curious, but I will understand if you would like to rest instead.”

“No, no. I could use a friendly voice.” She insisted. “I’ll call you in a few minutes. I just need to wash some of this dirt and blood off and redress some stuff and I’ll be right back.”

She hung up the phone before he could say anything more and slipped her panties off, starting the hot water of the shower. She unwrapped her arm and saw the bleeding from her first wound had ebbed, but knew she’d have to dress it again. Stepping into the shower was like stepping into a bees nest - dozens of little scrapes and cuts burned and protested as she tried to wash them with the warm water. Once she was finished, she grabbed her towel and patted the sore bits dry, pulling on her a pair of clean underthings and a clean shirt before picking through her bag and pulling the first aid kit she’d brought just in case she’d clutzed herself into oblivion. Blessedly, it had a little bit of everything in the basics, including wrappings for the larger talon scratches. She cleaned it once more, found bandages for the smaller scratches. 

It really was reminiscent of back in the day. The only thing missing... Was the rest of the group. 

‘ _ At least there are fewer wounded in the fight. _ ’ She mused, slapping the last band-aid on the last scratch.

Hitting redial, she put the phone on speaker as she rubbed the soreness in her calves, feeling the tiredness beginning to radiate through her.

“Kagome?”

“Hi Shoma! Just calling back before bedtime.”  
“Your rinse was pleasurable I trust?”

“Much needed.”

She couldn’t help the soft smile blossoming at his voice. It sounded... vaguely familiar. Comforting and warm.

“Are you well? It sounds as though you were injured.” He rumbled over the phone.   
“I was. Some deep scratches and a few more after that. We came across some old demons haunting the place.” She chuckled, wishing it were figurative speech. “I scraped myself up pretty good.”

“I am sorry you were injured. You were excited about finding something new there - did you find what you were looking for?”

Kagome’s heart throbbed, settling into the sheets of the bed.

“Yeah. Yeah I did. I’m pretty sure those ruins are an old part of our heritage lost over time. I recently had a piece sent to me that matches what we’re finding there, so I’m wondering if the same benefactor our museum has is the one funding Danske’s dig.”  
“Interesting.”

“What about you? What has you calling so late?”

“I apologize. It must seem forward given your current relationship status.” 

The way he said it made a shiver thrum in her belly, caressing her legs like a feather. 

“A little.” She answered softly. 

“I was calling in reference to the library I invited you to yesterday. The caretaker let me know you are welcome, so long as it is a scheduled visit. I wanted to gather times you would be free so I may pass this information along and have it scheduled sooner rather than later.” 

“Yeah.. I’m pretty sure I have the day on Friday. All my paperwork cleared this afternoon, so I’ve been freed up to participate in the dig.” 

“Very good. This Friday?”

Kagome chewed on her lip. Part of her felt like she was cheating, agreeing to such a thing. The only rationalization she could make was that Shoma hadn’t said he’d be joining her, only that he was scheduling the visit with the caretaker. 

“Maybe this weekend so I can have my workdays free, if that’s okay?”

“Do you have a preference of which day?”

“Not really.”

“Then I shall schedule for a Saturday.”

There was a fair pause between then before Kagome spoke at the same time Shoma did.

“Apologies. Please, go first. Surely you have much to tell in regards to your day?”

“I really don’t.” Kagome admitted. “Most of what we did today was pretty cut and dry for me. How was your day? You said you write, was it productive for you?”  
There was a deep chuckle that made her tummy quiver. How was this man capable of the things he was without even touching her? It reminded her far too much of her podcast.

“Supremely. I accomplished a few more chapters, and am nearly finished with the first half of the book I’ve been working. My editor seems to think I’ve struck gold.”

“Would I be privy to an excerpt?” She asked coyly. She could practically hear the smile. 

“I’m afraid you must wait, just like the others.” Shoma teased warmly.

“You have me on pins and needles.” She laughed, taking the phone off of speaker as she hugged her sheet covered knees. “Its about time for bed for me.”

“A shame. Your voice is soothing. And if I did not know you better, I would guess there was far more adventure in the day than you are letting on.”

“A few scratches in an old, half buried castle are nothing to write home about.” She contended. 

“Perhaps. What if you were to embellish the truth? What would the story truly be?”

Kagome hummed for a minute, feeling the sheets were a bit stuffy and pulling them away as she let her fingers play over the skin of her legs, dancing around the scratches.

“Embellishment, huh?” 

The truth would have sounded like an embellishment. She grinned. Then she would roll with the truth.

“We managed to dig out one of the main halls of the castle. Upon entering, I noticed a dark presence nobody else did, and not everyone believes in spirits or the demonic anymore.”

“Do you?” He intoned.

“I might.” She answered vaguely. “Don’t interrupt!”

He laughed. “Continue then.”

“We had a plan going in, and we followed it until we found a door that had demonic presences behind it. The castle suggested we found a demon slayer compound, and this room was where they had old parts of demons for processing to make their slaying weapons and protective gear. The sutras crumbled the second we walked in. It released an unholy, poisonous miasma.”

He hummed. “Whatever could someone so helpless do against such terrors?”

She wiggled triumphantly.

“Well they were in luck - you see, I happen to be a holy priestess. I erected a pure barrier, and managed to get everyone out before anyone else was hurt. There was only one catch.”  
“Tell me this catch?” 

The way he spoke, the timbre of his voice had her nethers wet with anticipation as she told her truth. It had been so long since someone listened to her tell what anyone else would brand as wild tales, it felt good to release a bit. It also didn’t hurt Shoma had a sexy phone voice, one that she could practically hear his breathing and the vibration of his bass in the ear piece. 

“There were still demons waiting down in the castle. I had someone get me a spear, a makeshift one out of the bamboo surrounding the site. Then I went back in without the barrier in place and killed the demons with the purity I suffused it with, and slayed all of them until I was sure I had purified the source of the poisonous miasma.”

She knew her tone was haughty - but she was also proud of herself for managing so many on her own. There was a sharp inhale on the other side of the phone and she paused.  
“Are you okay?”  
“I am fine. Stubbed my toe.” he answered, a little too quickly. “That... is quite the story. And it is the embellished, not the truth?”

Kagome hesitated before she answered. 

“Yes. It’s embellished.” 

There was no hiding the disappointment coloring her voice, cooling her heated blood. 

“I see. Then you see yourself as quite the protector. It is an admirable quality. Was everyone all right? You said yourself you sustained injuries...” His voice held an edge of concern, and she licked her lips.  
“Just caught a few demon talons to the forearm and some other little scratches, but nothing serious. The poison was purified before it could affect anyone.”

“Gods...” He breathed, almost a groan. It set her blood ablaze again. “You are truly an amazing human being, Kagome.”

She laughed gently. “You speak like you’ve known me your entire life? I’m not that great.. I’m actually super clumsy, I get over attached and obsessive about things.. And I have a bit of a perfectionist streak.”

“Nonsense.” he interrupted. “Passion should not be confused with perfection or obsession, and from what I gather, your profession gives you satisfaction that quells your deepest desire, but does not completely sate it.”

Kagome sat up in bed, listening to his warm voice as it trickled down her throat, spreading through her chest like hot water on a chilled surface. 

“Do you know me, Shoma?” She asked hazily. Kagome could hear his breath on the other side of the phone.

“I could see enthusiastically enjoying the learning curve.” He all but purred. 

“Oh..” Her mouth snapped shut on the moan nearly tumbling from her, her face flushing and her body warming. “I.. Should get to bed, Shoma. I have an early day at the dig site with Danske and his team”

“Very good. I will contact you with an address later this week. Until then Kagome,” his voice took on a deeper tone that swept through her like a wave of lava, “Sweetest of dreams.”

The line clicked and buzzed, and Kagome stared at the phone like it was a traitorous thing. 

~*~

If Sesshoumaru could, he would glare at himself. The beast in him rumbled as though he were starving, and grumbling at this half-meal of wanton display. His cooling arousal gave way for the disgust he felt with himself, being so brash with her on the phone, but occasionally her voice had that silky coyness that teased him endlessly. In the midst of her story telling, even through the thick edge of concern, his cock hardened desperately. His mind’s eye was supplying him with her adventure, and even though there was no way she was wearing a school uniform at her age, he could see her wearing the uniform without embellishment. Just the skirt and a flowing white top. He shouldered his phone, listening as he stroked his cock to the sweet cadence of her confident tone, and his need came to a soaring peak when she used the word slay to describe what she had done to the remaining demons in the castle. 

He’d passed it off as a stubbed toe, but the lazy warm feeling of afterglow had him overconfident as much as she, taking the rest of the conversation to tease her. It was truly one of his favorite pastimes with the priestess, and her hitched voice at the end promised she was thinking about him long after their chat was done. It was late, and there was no point in calling his contacts about the demon based library that sheltered publicly shared demonic artifacts, but based on what Kagome had confirmed, there was indeed an excellent reason to visit the site now that she had confirmed the presence of slayer artifacts. If it was the castle he had been looking for, it may very well have the texts for crafting such weapons against demons he was looking for. There were deadlier things in the world, for sure. But for posterity, he wanted to keep such texts in tact so they could be learned from and cared for. Bad or harmful history was not necessarily something to shirk, and time had taught him to remember such things lest the cycle of ignorance be repeated. 

Demon kind would flourish under secrecy, they always had. With the discovery of an ancient priestess that knew the old ways, there was hope that some day, she would be able to influence a generation of her kind to assist the rise and flourish of nature and demons so they would grow in harmony together. Regardless, Sesshoumaru knew deep down his desire for the woman was borderline obscene. An enjoyable learning curve indeed... He rubbed his temples with his forefinger and thumb, still feeling foolish at having made so many passes at a woman he’d said himself he was not going to meddle in her affairs. He had never been one to go back on his word, but surely this is the first time making a liar of himself was so terribly enjoyable. 

*  _ Feudal Era _ * 

He could smell the inevitable as she slept. There was no denying he’d been enjoying her torment at his expense, what little it was due to have unbelievably entertaining it was to get such a rise out of her. That being spoken, he felt a certain tug as he followed the group on their latest mission after Naraku, a sweep of the local villages due to restless demonic activity. This he knew because on his way to visit his adopted pup, he’d already dealt with those issues and instead of headed straight for the village, he’d taken it upon himself to toy with his priestess before moving on. They had taken to twining energy, and seeing as he happened upon them while she was asleep, he was enjoying the velveteen press of her ebbing and surging energy. 

She was so much more responsive when she dreamed, and the sounds inspired by his youki toying with her presence as it wrapped around her in a warm, tickling embrace were worth the meddling. When the morning would come, he would present himself to the flush of her cheeks and the irritation of his half-brother who would roll his eyes at the flare of hormonal scents bombarding his sensitive nose. This night, as he sat in the tree above the priestess as he usually did, he was soothing her snapping energy into something warmer. Her breathing hitched and he paused in his aural ministrations. A glance down showed him she was suddenly awake, pushing up from her sleeping sack as she peered around in the darkness. 

Her power snaked out, searching for him and he met her with his to draw her gaze upwards. 

“Priestess.” He rumbled from the lowest branch he lounged on.  
“What are you doing in our camp?!” she hissed, rising. 

“Enjoying the evening sites and sounds. Are we not entitled to sleep where we please?” 

A carefree roll had him free-falling down and landing with ease as he brushed a hand over his pelt, standing a mere handful of feet away. The priestess was yet again dressed inappropriately, some flimsy tenth of a pant and torso covering that did not hide the chilled distension of her nipples. She must have noticed his slipping gaze in the moonlight and covered her chest with guarded hands and an irritated scowl. 

“Do you do this often?” He could practically smell the blood in her cheeks collected from the blush spreading.  
“It is our deepest wish to inspire comfortable..” He paused, thoughtfully tapping his lower lip with his index claw, “Pleasurable dreams. Have we disturbed you? For it was unintentional.”

Kagome’s annoyance only grew with his feigned concern and it inspired a fanged grin that had her heart skipping a beat. To his surprise, she closed the distance between them quickly, for a human, and poked his chest hard enough her little human finger bent back a touch. 

“You don’t hate humans. You torture them. You find it fun to torment humans.” Her breath quickened when he held the index finger between his, pulling the offending appendage away and stepping into what little room they had left, pressing silk against skin.

“While you are not entirely wrong, it had been noted earlier that we find goading your holy presence particularly stimulating.” 

She was not backing down, instead doubling down at the press of his body with her own warmth in the chill of the summer night. 

“You’re unexpectedly aggravating, Sesshoumaru.” Her voice had softened compared to her earlier harsh hiss. 

“Consider yourself a delightful vexation on equal footing with our aggravation, Priestess.” He released her fingers, finding his coming down to tilt her chin upwards as he studied the fierceness in her chocolate eyes. Her entire being was glowing in the moonlight and terribly tempting when she was looking at him with such contempt. For some odd reason, instinct began to tug at him in an unfamiliar way. With agonizing slowness, he slanted his face and brushed his lips to the her petal soft ones, studying her reaction. Her eyes went wide with surprise, but eventually slid shut when he pressed insistently and followed suit as his other hand buried in the tangled mass of black, shoulder length hair. This first stolen kiss in the night.. 

The woman was hungry and willing at first, seeming to forget their location until stirring pulled her from the daze of their indiscretion and she pushed away from him pressing the back of her hand to her mouth as her eyes shifted restlessly over her companions. There wasn’t a single one of them awake, but he could sense the shame building in her as she hugged her elbows and eyed him warily. She was exhilarating. Touching two fingers to his lips, he quirked into another smile directed at her.

“You shall sleep deep, miko. We will be watching. And this time, you have our oath we shall not disturb you.”

She didn’t seem reassured by this. Picking her up in an unseemly fashion, he silenced her yelp with one hand and deposited her into the blankets she slept on.

“Sleep. We will be visiting Rin the following day. It is not our intention to pester you all hours.” He straightened. “Even if we find it supremely humorous.”

“You’re an asshole.” she groused quietly. He raised a thin brow but opted not to quibble as he turned to head for the edge of the camp. Adrenaline still coursed through the pit of his stomach at his stolen treat, and once, just once, he chanced a glance over his shoulder to see she was staring back after him.

*  _ Present _ * 

It was memories such as these that were a marker to fight in other ways. So what if she was seeing someone else? She wasn’t married, and even if she were somehow, that didn’t seem to feel like a deterrent from taking what he wanted from the human whelp. Sesshoumaru rose from lounging on his bed and to the bathroom, disrobing and tossing the stained pajama pants towards his bedroom floor before cranking the hot water for a shower on. He stood under the hot spray, considering sending another set of slayer armor from his vault of what he had collected over time, even if he was already footing the medical bills and paying additional costs for her as an invited guest on the dig site. 

Truthfully, if she hadn’t been there to purify the demonic presence, the day could have been far more expensive. If he could get away with showing as the benefactor for the site, he would have done so - but his alias was not known to them. His true form was; even the money was under his family name, which was terribly exclusive and had cost plenty to keep buried from the everyday public. Kagome knew both, and the one thing he had not considered when he started this charade was how she would take the revelation of who he was. He sighed and squeezed his eyes shut, letting the water drench his body, enjoying the quiet contemplation as water echoed off the stone of his shower. 

~*~

Kagome spent most of the night tossing and turning. Not necessarily because of the confliction she felt about this new player two in her life, but also because of how ridiculously badly everything else itched and throbbed. Her overconfidence earned her a night of reminiscent sleep with the wounds she’d gained as a teen and young adult. Groaning as she accidentally brushed the nasty wounds the talons had given her against a pillow, she shifted restlessly as she came back to wakefulness. Shoma, the guy from the bar, was definitely more a risk than Danske was. When she started to compare the two of them, she wondered if she was being an awful creature. It felt like a betrayal of Danske’s promises and adventures, thinking about her new bar-mate in a romantic sense. She wasn’t a complete idiot. No sex during college didn’t mean she didn’t know how or when she was being flirted with, and Shoma had been sending out some strong signals that had made her stomach clench at the thrilling unknown. 

_ “I could see enthusiastically enjoying the learning curve.” _

That little line alone had sent sparks skipping along her nerves, and she wanted to explore how it was making her feel. There was where the risk came in - she had hoped when she first met Danske that he would inspire the same things. And he had... For the first month of their relationship. It was fun to explore the newness of it and all, but after a few months it all seemed kind of routine and boring. If she were being totally honest, Kagome would rather spend the rest of her days behind a desk doing paperwork than having to lie under Danske pretending to enjoy his mediocre performance in bed. She sighed, and sat up, checking the clock in the unfamiliar room. It was nearly five in the morning and she wasn’t getting back to sleep. Danske would be by to pick her up in another two hours, and it would probably be wise to shower and wash wounds before going back to the dirt riddled dig site. 

She rose and began schlepping around the motel room, removing bandages and washing before redressing them. Turning on the television, she let the noise flutter around the room as she slowly dressed and braided her hair off to the side. She was watching the news when a gentle knock at her door sounded. Checking around the curtains, she smiled at Danske and let him in.  
“Hey! I’m pretty much ready, just gotta finish repacking!” She chirped brightly, excited for a new day at the dig site. “Are we going straight there? I was kinda hoping we could stop for some quick breakfast.”

Danske stood in the doorway sheepishly scratching the back of his neck.

“I’ve been advised by the site insurance agent that we’ll be talking to her first before we’re allowed to do anything. It sounds like they want to make sure you aren’t going to sue the crap out of them.” 

Kagome sighed.   
“Right. I forgot, fun things stop being fun after you turn a certain age here.” She groused. 

“Yeeeah. Sorry. If anything I can honestly tell you that all the parties involved yesterday want to thank you for all your help. Even if we still have no idea what the fuck happened.”

_ Right... I forgot this kind of thing is weird for modern era people.  _ Kagome chewed her bottom lip and wondered how she was going to explain it, trying not to slap her forehead for missing out on her opportunity to really think up a solid explanation while on the phone with Shoma last night. 

“Yeah. It was definitely a different situation.” She laughed nervously. Danske sat heavily on the bed. 

“I mean, you were so quick to take control back there. Like you’d done this kind of thing a million times. Where did you learn to take such command from?”

Kagome shrugged.  
“Preteen brothers help develop a fly-by-night personality. Souta was pretty wild when he was younger, so that could have been it.” She sat on the opposite end of the bed, leaning back in her torn jeans and clean tee. 

“How are your injuries?” He asked, seeing the blood seeping through her new bandages. 

“They hurt. I couldn’t hardly sleep last night it ached so bad.” She waved her hand. “I’m sure it’ll go away before long, just hurts the night after.”

“Are you ready to go?” 

She looked around and nodded.   
“Yup. But you owe me coffee.” She poked his side hard. He winced but laughed and headed down to the front desk to check out.

Upon arriving to the site, the agent Danske had mentioned was sitting in the planning tent. He was dressed professionally with squared glasses and a charcoal suit, dark hair smoothed to the side as he pressed the bridge of the glasses up a touch. Just by his looks, Kagome could tell she wouldn’t be down in the castle nearly as long as she liked, and sat with arms crossed over her chest.

“Try not to look so downtrodden, it won’t be but a few minutes of your time.”   
Kagome blinked. His voice was so low and sensuous. What the hell? She slapped down her imagination in frustration. Clearly, she was sexually repressed. Not every deep-voiced man should sound like a sex object.

“Right. Of course.” She answered flatly.  
“My name is Hiso, and I work with the risk management on site. Give me a brief account of events yesterday, starting before you went into the site and ending with where and how your wounds were tended.” 

Kagome cleared her throat and sat up straight, giving him a deadpan look as she went over what she’d rehearsed in her free time. She went down with a team of six after they had planned the event with the main crew. They went down, and went to the farthest wall before exploring the doors. They came to one that had a thick scented mist that poisoned two of their crew and upon taking a photograph in the room, ignited the vapor causing an explosion of some kind, throwing the four that hadn’t entered back. She had regrouped everyone, pulled the injured out of the room, and guided them back to the entrance where she shielded the group and double checked for anything else out of the ordinary. Upon finding nothing, she joined the rest of the team topside.

She finished with as flat a look as matched her tone. The Risk Manager, Hiso, was merely taking notes on a yellow legal pad with a heavy metal pen. Once his scribbling finished, he looked up.  
“And your wounds? What hospital were you treated at?” He pointed with the end of the heavy ballpoint pen. She shrugged with one elbow.   
“I happened to have a medical kit in my bag. I always bring one if I’m hiking for emergencies. Clumsy and all.”  
“So no hospital checked your wounds.” Hiso’s pantone chastened her like a child.

“Well, no, I didn’t want to cause a fuss -” 

“Even though its a minor injury, if left untreated, a staph infection could kill you. We are going to require the on site physician give you a once over before approving you to go anywhere.” He sighed in a long-suffering huff that made her flush with ignominy. While she hated feeling like a child, he did have a point. 

“Which way?”  
“Danske will take you. Should you have a medical problem beyond the site caused by injuries received on site, you will need to call this number so you can have our risk managers assess and cover your expenses.” He slid a card across the table that was glossy black with white numbers for her to call, and she made a hasty exit.

“Soooo where is the physician.”

Danske chuckled and motioned for her to follow him to the tent that doubled as the meeting tent. A young woman inside smiled and nodded at their approach.

“I bet you’re the one that saved everyone yesterday that didn’t come see me after everything went down.” She waggled a finger at Kagome. “Let’s take a look.”

For the second time that morning, the wounds were unwrapped and appraised. Kagome sat fidgeting through the exam in a plastic fold up chair as the woman frowned at her arm.

“I swear, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say something bit you. How did you get this again?”

Kagome couldn’t help the nervous giggle that tumbled from her as she tugged at her braid with her uninjured hand.   
“To be honest I really don’t even remember how. It just kinda happened so fast, y’know? All I wanted to do was get everyone out of the dangerous situation, so I wasn’t really paying attention to what happened to me...”   
Kagome was a terrible liar and she knew it. Skirting around what happened was easier said than done with a little extra practice, but she couldn’t help the nervous heat that kept rising when with each lie she was having to remember. The doctor gave her a doubtful look, but didn’t argue with her. She treated it with an antibiotic and wrapped it again with a few more gauze pads than before. 

“If it starts bleeding again, come back so we can treat it and leave it exposed so the platelets can form a bit faster. Kay?” She smiled sweetly and Kagome nodded. It was coming up on early morning, and she hadn’t even gotten to hear the first part of the meeting Danske was listening to on the farther corner when she joined him. Sitting beside him, he patted her knee gently and they listened to the site coordinator. 

“So unfortunately, due to the fact that we had a little mishap yesterday, the dig funder is coming to check on the conditions of the site this afternoon. This means that anyone invited here is going to have to take a rain check until he’s spoken with risk management and ensured that there will be no other liabilities on the site before guests roam with us, even if they’ve signed NDAs and Liability wavers. You know how he gets when we fuck up on site.” She sighed and gave Kagome an apologetic look. “So make sure that all of your tents are in top shape before he arrives. Danske?”  
“Yeah.”

“I’m gonna have to ask you to escort your guest home for the day. We’ll let you know when its safe for her to come back. I’m sorry Kagome.”

Kagome’s heart sank, and tears pricked at the corners of her eyes, but she nodded with a forced smile.  
“It’s okay. I understand.”   
Of all people, she really did. That didn’t mean she had to like it. She rose quickly so nobody else would see her cry if it came to that, Danske following quickly behind her. 

“Kagome, I-” 

“Danske, really. It’s fine. I’d rather not think about it if its all the same to you.” She answered heatedly, swiping at the tears before they could fall. They made their way back to the work truck, and the long trip home passed in tense, depressing silence. Danske dropped her off at her apartment with a plethora of apologies that Kagome waved off and trudged back up the stairs. Bloodied and bruised, having cleared the site for everyone, and her reward was to be kicked off the site. 


	7. Occam's Razor

Kagome got to her front door and stood there with her dirtied yellow travel bag dragging on the concrete. Frustration overwhelmed her forgiving nature and she punched her door, bloodying her knuckles and sending a shockwave of pain through the deep marks on her arm. She swore under her breath before beginning to cry, unlocking her door and tossing the bag to one side before sitting on her couch, knees pressed against her chest. 

Having managed to do almost a week’s worth of work to stay on a dig site for a couple days and being kicked off the day after arriving was just one more unbearable cog in the wheel of normality that destroyed her sense of adventure. It was depressing, how even the hopeful possibility of finally getting to do something that made her heart race with giddiness was taken away the second something went awry. Gods, sometimes she hated the rules that came with this world supplied. Realizing how free the feudal era was by comparison every time she hit a beauracratic wall was maddening. School had been the same way, especially when she had been trying to take make up courses to streamline her college enrollment. 

Her phone buzzed at her side and she rolled her tear stained eyes, sure it was Danske trying to apologize for something beyond his control yet again. It was insulting at this point, because the apology was hollow and there was no real reason behind it; it didn’t stop her feelings from aching. She glanced at it before giving in to the urge to chuck the brick across the room. It was Shoma. Wiping her eyes and trying to gather her voice as she cleared her throat, she answered.

“Heeeey, Shoma. I’m not gonna lie, you caught me at a bit of a bad time.” She said, trying to normalize the sniffles and push down her upset. There was a pause on the other line.

“Are you alright?” He questioned. Worry strained his own tone, and she swallowed, clearing her throat again.  
“Yeah. Just a bad day. Got kicked off the dig site I spent a day doing a week’s worth of paperwork for just because of a little mishap. Apparently its some kind of a liability issue they needed to resolve with the guy that was funding the research, so I was sent home.”

She laughed through her irritation.  
“On that note, I’m free sooner than I anticipated, so if you have an open date this week for that library you were talking about, I’m free all week.”

“I see. Perhaps after a touch of rest, you would like to drown your sorrows? I know of a cafe that makes only alcoholic coffee beverages? Or perhaps a comfort beer would be more your style?”

She smiled softly. It was sweet of him to try to cheer her up. And honestly, if she stayed home for too long brewing on the misery of her life, she may not want to come back up for air.

“That sounds great. Why don’t you pick? Just text me the address, and I’ll get a shower in before I head that way. Shouldn’t take me too long.”   
“By all means. Let me know when you are on your way then.”

The line clicked and Kagome stood with a hard sigh. She went for her bathroom and stood with her wrapped arm outside the shower while she rinsed, then opted for an olive green long sleeved shirt with a deep V neck. The weather was turning colder anyway, and she wasn’t particularly interested in showing off her bandaged arm in public. Jeans and long, thick socks to pair with a pair of black ankle work boots she had purchased for the dig, and a silky red scarf and she was finished getting ready. The cafe Shoma and sent an address for was only a few minutes from the pub they’d met at, and she was off. Upon arriving, she noticed that it was a themed cafe, where an immigrant had set up their shop to appear as if it were in Ireland. There were teas and coffees she’d never heard of, and names of drinks she wasn’t sure how to pronounce. But the server who met her gave her a brief overview of the menu before asking if she was by herself. 

“I’m actually waiting for a gentleman named Shoma?” The girl nodded and swiped her arm one way.

“This way please!”

Shoma sat at a gleaming polished dark wood bar that had been stained nearly black, drinking a golden liquid from a small glass as he tapped away on a computer. Part of her wished she didn’t disturb him. He leaned back from his computer, eyeing it with such intensity as his hands interlaced and rested atop his head. Even his face was pensive as he appraised the contents of what he’d written. His reactions were like watching art, and it was hard to look away.

“Mr. Shoma, your guest has arrived!” 

The man looked her way, unfolding his hands and rising with a smile that made her stomach flutter. It was one that positively charmed the pants off of both girls as the walked up. He reached out and Kagome gave him her hand. Shoma seemed to be about to kiss her knuckles when he noticed the scratches and redness on her knuckles. 

“You are injured.”

She flushed.   
“I told you I was.”  
“These look fresh. Did you fight with someone?” He inquired, brow raising damningly similar to a certain youkai lord she once knew. 

“I might have lost a fight with a door this afternoon.” She muttered softly. “But that’s no big deal. Don’t worry about it.”

He paused but finally nodded and escorted her over to the bar he was drinking at.

“Forgive me - I was merely attempting to get in a bit of work before you arrived. Scotch pairs well with writing.”

“Scotch?”

Shoma’s smile returned, and her day brightened considerably with that sexy grin.

~*~

Every time Sesshoumaru shot Kagome a smirk, she silenced and responded with one of her own. It was almost unfair; he felt like he owed her more than a smile to gain the confident radiance of her happiness when he did it. That having been said, it was all he could do not to insist on inquiring about her injuries. Her scent told a harsh story, and even the visit with the risk managers of the area had insisted that it would be best if the visitor did not return unless there was an addendum to the policy adding her to it’s coverage to avoid a liability lawsuit. Not that Kagome had ever had such deigns as money - even in this world, as she was, there was no shortage of it for her. Surely there were men and women falling over themselves for her kind of expertise. He’d been researching some of her published work, what little there was of it, and found its accuracy would be suitable for the library he’d be taking her to this afternoon.

Their phone call had ended, and his gut had twisted at the sound of her obvious distress and frustration. A helicopter had him back home well before it was time to leave, and his personal car knew the shortcuts to this little bar better than most. To assuage her upset, he had hoped a surprise of this magnitude would turn her tears of frustration to ones of joy. Surely he would see as the late afternoon went on. 

“Do you like Irish Coffee?”

Her brows furrowed.   
“I don’t think I’ve ever really tried it.”  
“Then do you prefer sweet coffee?”  
“Always.  
“With cream?”

“Better.”  
“This comes with alcohol.”  
“You just hit the trifecta of things that this day needs to improve.” She laughed, sitting on the chair beside him. 

“Excellent. Murielle, do fix my lovely guest an Irish Coffee.” he remarked to the red-headed immigrant back behind the bar. The woman, a touch overweight but exotically foreign to their home nation nodded her head of frizzy burnt auburn hair and went about making what he’d requested. 

Kagome sat back against the polished walnut chair the bar provided and sighed. 

“I apologize in advance for the horrible attitude. I don’t mean to be rude. But today was just awful.”

Sesshoumaru nodded, pulling the glasses off his nose and closing the laptop.

“I assume on top of losing a fight with a door. Personally, I would be most offended to have lost a battle with such a thing. It would be a wound too deep to heal from, I would never recover.” His pantone made the priestess laugh, covering her mouth to stifle the giggles.

“You’re not wrong. It was pretty painful to the pride losing that one. Just...” She sighed and her smile lessened slowly. “I worked so hard to get to that site, put in almost a full sixteen hour day trying to run ahead of myself and for what, y’know?” 

Her hand ran through her long black hair, tousling the voluminous mop of untamed silk, shaking it out between her fingers as she sighed heavily. 

“I just wanted some adventure. There were these glory days we had when we were kids, and we didn’t know what rules were, or why it was important to follow them. And we just did what we believed was right, solving problems and doing the work needed to be done to help better one another’s lives...” Another puff of air blew from between her lips as she slouched onto the bar, one hand in her hair as she faced him. “I guess what I mean to say is... Sometimes, being in this world as an adult the way it is just sucks. I miss what it was to live in blissful ignorance of laws and rules.” 

He knew her frustrations all too well. 

“To be so stuck in the semantics and paperwork is a fools errand. I appreciate a fellow traveler - for one to have the soul of a nomad but be tied to duty is tedious and commonplace. Your pain is mine.” He offered his cup as her steaming Irish Coffee was placed beside her in a toast.

“To hating the monotony of adulting.” She announced softly, picking the glass up with her free hand and clinking it softly to his. He smirked again and took a sip of the smokey golden Scotch in his glass. 

“So what are you drinking today, you dashingly fashionable fellow, you?” She teased. He pointed to the bottle at the top of their spirits rack. 

“Macallan Scotch, distilled from the highlands of Scotland.” 

Kagome nodded then shook her head.

“I know nothing about Scotch.” 

“It takes time and appreciation for the effort put into the bottle. This particular blend aged for up to twenty-five years before the liquid was deemed acceptable for consuming to the general public.”

“I can see that. Time makes some great things, doesn’t it?” 

He nodded, eyeing the caramel coloured liquid before taking a sip. 

“Is your coffee acceptable?”

Kagome nodded.   
“It seemed like a bit much at first, but its growing on me. Warm going down, and gives me a toasty belly. I kind of like the double hit of warm.” She admitted. Her cheeks were dusting pink as she sipped her beverage, and she began to pull off the long red scarf she’d worn into the pub, revealing a deep v-neckline in the shirt she was wearing. The skin of her chest glowed in the lowlight of the bar, and he could sense the alcohol of the coffee was loosening her.

“So let me appraise your battle scars from this fabled battle with demons yesterday.” He pried. She scowled at him, lips turning down hard to one side.

“Not you too. I can handle some scratches, it really isn’t that big of a deal!”

“Then show me not out of shame - but out of confidence that you slew your enemy. Like I heard last night.” He teased. She seemed to pause and flush at his retrospect, and began rolling the sleeves of the shirt up. A large bandage that covered a fair portion of her arm was revealed as she rolled the sleeves past her elbows. There was bruising and smaller scratches along the rest of them, but nothing worse than the large gauze patch taped over her forearm. 

“That looks pretty nasty. May I?”  
Kagome shrugged. “The on-site doctor said I would need to air it out every now and again. Just make sure the tape is secured after you look.”

He nodded and peeled the tape securing the gauze. Beneath it lay a set of deep gauges, clearly caused by some kind of talon. They had already scabbed over, but would most certainly scar. 

“Truly, it must have been a magnificent battle.” He commented offhandedly as he eyed them. The on site risk manager had confirmed the odd stories that everyone was telling, how the young woman invited to the site had managed to save multiple members of the group and pull them out of the ruins. What Kagome didn’t know, was that due to the decay and sudden activity, what was uncovered almost immediately caved in. The lower levels according to ground penetrating sonar had stayed in tact, but the floors they had explored could not stand the additional stress and crumbled. It would be at least another week before they would be able to get to the main hall, and instead of exploring the ruin, they would need to delicately dig everything out. He carefully replaced the tape, gently thumbing it as he pressed it into her skin and her soft intake of breath made him pause.  
“Have I hurt you?” He asked softly, glancing up with her arm still in hand. Then he scented it mixed in with the smell of coffee - an almost cinnamon sweet smell blended with the rich aroma of her drink. 

“N-no.” She stammered. “I mean, a little. It’s still tender.”

Her blush and the delicious scent he remembered as her arousal darkened his eyes. Her startled gaze had her pulling her hand away as she straightened to focus on her drink. The silence between them was thick and wanting. Sesshoumaru palmed his glass and drained the last of his scotch, nodding to Murielle when she raised her brow at him. She poured him another and left the bottle with a wink, going back to watch a soccer game on. 

“I apologize for your injuries. It was not my intention to jostle it.” He sipped at his newly filled glass and watched as she sipped from hers for a long moment before he brought up the real reason for his invitation out. 

“While your plans were cut short, I do have a surprise if you are interested in it today.”

Her gaze shifted from the contents of her cup to him curiously. 

“The Library of Spirits’ curator and caretaker contacted me today after I called when you told me of your misfortune. He will give us free reign for the evening if you have no other plans.”

There was a sparkle back in her eyes as she nodded with a growing smile. 

“I would love to. I’ve never heard of this place though, how do you know about it?” She asked. Sesshoumaru shrugged.  
“I have a little extra money and contacts that keep me in the know. This is an old friend who owes me a favor.”

_ More that it is Jaken, and he will do as he is commanded... _ He mused. 

“When do we go?” 

“As soon as you feel ready.”  
To his surprise, Kagome pounded the coffee and pushed the cup back towards the tender side of the bar.   
“I’m ready when you are.” She announced. He laughed down in his belly, feeling the warmth of it spread through his being. 

“Murielle, would you please make my guest a piping hot coffee to go?” 

The wisdom of the woman as she slid over an already hot cup of Irish Coffee in a to-go cup.

“At your pleasure, Shoma.” 

“Thank you!” Kagome said with a gentle tilt of her head. They rose and walked out. 

“A moment.” Shoma dialed his driver and had him bring the car around. As the sedan pulled around, Kagome gave him a furrowed brow and he opened the door.

“Please.”  
She hesitated at first, but eventually slid into the farthest side over. He entered behind her with his work bag, handing it to the driver before sitting.

“You must come from money. I’ve never met an author as young as you already rich off their ass here.” 

Sesshoumaru chuckled. “You aren’t wrong. My book sales are abysmal as we speak, though hopefully I have come into a better storyline that will boost sales upon is publishing.” 

“So you’re still working on it?”   
The car jolted forward and they were off. 

“Yes. There is a long way to go yet, but my editor insists I have struck gold.”

She smiled softly. Gods, but she was beautiful even as clothed as she was. The soft curve of her thighs cradled in tight denim, the subtle swell of her chest in the ribbed cotton of her shirt. Her scent still lingered and swirled with the coffee. How deeply, nearly desperately he wished to reach out and stroke her wild black hair away from her cheek and claim those sweet lips for his own. 

“Did you at least have fun with that gentleman of yours during your time at the dig?” 

She nodded absently as she watched the world pass by from the car. 

“It was nice enough. I wish...” She paused. “Never mind. Its nothing.”

Sesshoumaru studied her. There was clearly a dissatisfaction radiating in her.

“Do not feel you need to hide your problems. Consider me a sounding board.”

She eyed him mistrustfully but shrugged.  
“Have you ever just... You get along with someone well, have the same interests, they look good and all... But there’s just this lack of spark that I don’t understand. It was there when we first met and it just kind of fizzled I guess. I’m worried that this will be the way all my romances are doomed to end.”

Sesshoumaru stroked his chin absently.

“It sounds as though you’ve already decided to end your current relationship.” He intoned. 

She shook her head in the negative, dark hair splaying. 

“I haven’t, I really haven’t. Just. Maybe I’m doing something wrong?” She trailed off as she went back to thinking too hard as the world rolled away. Sesshoumaru frowned. While it was true he didn’t know the whole story, and perhaps his advice would fall on deaf ears, maybe this was the time to do damage. He watched her palm her chin, playing with the leather of the seat with her other hand and bit the inside of his lip and looked away.

“It may not be you; at the same time it may be over thinking the situation. The simplest answer is most likely the correct one, yes?” He paused, not waiting for her answer as he continued impassively. “The simplest answer would be to ask the question, ‘Am working too hard to be happy?’. I don’t believe one should need to try so hard in relationship they were happy in.”

She seemed to glance at him out of the corner of her eye over her shoulder. 

“The next is to ensure that one is not wasting away one’s precious and short life wasting it in moments where you are unhappy or uncertain.”

She was now looking at him with a prying gaze.

“You sound like you’ve had experience answering that question, Shoma.”

The car began to slow outside an old, unmarked building and came to a stop with Kagome’s side of the car at the entrance and Sesshoumaru used this opportunity to slide forward. Not realizing this was their stop she shrunk against the corner of the car with a heavy red flush developing on her cheeks, letting out a soft  _ oh! _ when he grasped her chin between his fingers.

“Regret is a lonely companion, Kagome.” He kissed her high on the cheek and leaned back enough to motion for her to open the door. “Our stop.” 

She reluctantly accepted the driver’s hand as he opened the door and stepped out in front of the dingy brick building.

“Come.” he said, offering her his arm. She accepted almost doe-ishly, and they walked into the building together. 

~*~

Kagome willed her heart to stop racing after his kiss to her cheek. The way her name rolled off his lips was sinful. She wanted to hear it again in a more wanting, breathier tone that demanded satisfaction above all other things. After the silken brush of his lips on her skin, she wished like hell she would have just broken it off with Danske - it still didn’t feel right being intimate with someone else when another person had romantic expectations of her. Every time their skin met, she wanted to jump out of hers. They passed under an archway and through a pair of stained and ornately carved doors. There was a landing made of a dark, red jasper that stretched into stairs leading deeper into the building. The outside didn’t suggest nearly the size of inside. Down the stairs opened into a large room with a massive wooden chandelier and a long desk where someone sat, dwarfed by the noisy paper they were reading. On either side of the desk were more doors, carved with blessings and depictions of old demons, dozens of lore and stories being told in the smallest and most intricate carvings. Shoma cleared his throat loudly and the newspaper rustled noisily. 

“Wat?!” a gargled voice screeched as the paper went down. A short, spindly little man peered at them from over the newspaper. A short huff and the paper fluttered to the desk as the man, whom she now realized had two strands of a mustache that he twisted between his fingers. “I see you’ve arrived later than anticipated. There are no drinks or food in the Library of Spirits. You know the rest of the rules, Se-”  
“Yes.” Shoma interrupted. “I know the rules, Ji-sama.” 

The short man looked briefly surprised, then peered suspiciously at him. 

“Remember, spiritual powers can affect the scrolls inside. We ask you please keep your power in check.”

Kagome wanted to gawk. The tradition of the library was so blessedly familiar and comforting. 

“Enjoy the library.” 

There were three loud thuds, and the doors clicked open, both swinging wide with a thunderous creak. Kagome wandered towards the doors and swallowed a gasp when she saw what awaited her. Her eyes burned for the second time today with tears, but this time they were happy tears. The shelves themselves were enormous, requiring ladders that easily went up three stories and even then it didn’t come close to the ceiling which was painted with murals of ancient Japan. Some shelves were specifically made for scroll work, some held carefully bound books, and there were even more books that were professionally bound and recently made. Her chest bubbled with excitement and before she even realized she was moving as she all but leapt forward to brush her fingers over the spine of the first books. Pulling a few to see what their contents were, she cooed at the impeccable brush work and what had to be original artwork. They were pieces she’d never seen before, and could easily place at a few hundred years old at least. 

She read through the first few chapters of one, then would be drawn to another. It was a cycle that continued for hours, completely forgetting about her escort as he swept back to allow her space to explore. At some point she looked up from a scroll she had picked up and was reading through and realized she was curled up at a kotatsu somewhere in the middle of her last book spree, reading about an old method of fermenting rice into sake for ritual purification purposes. 

“Shoma..?”

“Hmm?”

She jumped at the noise behind her. He had made himself at home in a large wing backed chair, browsing what appeared to be paintings. 

“What are you reading?”  
“A favorite. Book of older paintings with no true title.” Apparently she couldn’t hide the curiosity crossing her, because Shoma gave her that damnable smirk that sent her stomach plummeting before he shut the book and handed it to her. She turned it over in her hands, feeling the weight of carefully and finely crafted canvas. The only cover was one of worn leather, carefully patterned flowers engraved in the leather that gave it a sense of whimsy. Opening to the first page she delighted in the western style of painting. It was a painting of a lush, rolling green field that was dotted with flowers on the edge of a forest. The bluest of skies had wisps of cloud as sunshine poured over the field, and down in the lowest part of it was a little girl playing in a patterned kimono, arms akimbo as she fled gleefully over the field. 

In Kagome’s mind, she could hear Rin’s overjoyed squeal and her heart lurched in her chest. The pattern was the same on the kimono. 

“Oh my god.” she breathed, running her fingers over the page. “It can’t be...”  
Kagome flipped to the next page and found another scene. Her hand brushed over the ugly little kappa’s peaceful meditative face in the middle of the pond he was sitting at. A small shrine was behind him, and the staff of two heads rested possessively in his lap. 

“Jaken.” she whispered, covering her mouth. Flipping the next pages was an unexpected train of memories, familiar surroundings painted into the background with some of the most precious people she’d seen in many years. “Where did you find this...”

Her companion had fallen silent as he watched her look through them, pensive as though waiting for a reaction.  
“I happened upon in a long time ago. It’s what I based some of my earliest works off, and how I started to write.” 

“Do you know the name of the painter?” She asked, fingers still stroking the pages lovingly.

“They are all unsigned save for a stamp the painter used to keep the collection together.”

She came to the last few pages and flushed hard.  _ Shit. That bastard... _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are Soul Balm - Thank you milomai19 and bandcandygiles! I will take the constructive criticism under advisement - I noticed the same issue with a couple of the chapters.   
> Thank you for Reading!


	8. A Picture is Worth...

The Feudal Era

The amount of time she spent naked in this era was stupid. Even with a screen at the river, with clothing that was thin enough to wash in, or at the most remote parts of the river, she could never shake the feeling she was being watched. Kagome clutched the borrowed kusode to her chest as she peered back and forth, across, and nowadays, upward into the trees. On more than one occasion, she’d caught the white haired peeper in the trees. The first time at the springs was plenty enough of a warning, and the two times after she’d been surprised by his jump down into her personal space from the branches of the tallest trees was plenty of reason to look all about before stripping anymore. Once she was as satisfied as she was going to get, she let the kusode slide down her shoulders.

“You have the most regal shoulders, Priestess.” 

“Godammit!”

Her hands snatched at the front of the kusode, pressing them to her bosom. 

“We see no reason not to just enjoy the water with us.” Sesshoumaru appeared from farther upstream, where trees had hid the river’s flow and his physical presence. 

“Gods, why me?” she groaned as he made his way, his waist hidden by the depths of the water. His placid features only allowed for a thin, raised brow in her direction. 

“Your body is not foreign to our gaze. Disrobe. You are perfectly safe in our presence.” 

Kagome bit her lip as he turned, his silver hair trailing in the chilly water behind him. 

“There is a slower bend this way, and it is deeper. It is suggested you follow and disrobe there if you are feeling so prudish.”

Kagome’s face puffed into a frustrated pout, wanting to deny his astute observation if only to keep her chaste reputation in tact. She stared after the rippling curtain of Sesshoumaru’s brilliant hair, seeing a peak of the taut muscle in his back. Throwing caution to the wind and swallowing her pride, she walked after him along the bank into the tree line of the river and found the bend he had referred, but no sign of him. She turned her back to the river and fought off her embarrassment as the kusode and hakama slid away from her body. Dropping her panties and bra atop the small pile draped over a large rock, she turned and nearly screamed as Sesshoumaru burst from beneath the placid bend of the water. 

“Jeez, you scared the shit out of me!” She exclaimed, clutching her chest. He blinked at her.

“One would hope not. Come.”

Her arms crossed her chest in a feeble attempt to make her feel less awkward as she walked naked into the cool water of the river towards Sesshoumaru. He turned as she approached, though she wasn’t sure why. When she was up to her chest, she dipped her head back into the water and scrubbed her face with the cool water. She swam into the deeper parts of the river away from the silver headed demon lord, choosing not to give him any more energy than she had already.   
_ If I just pretend he isn’t here, I can relax. _ It took some doing, and a far bit of moving farther away from the point of entry, but she did finally find a slick rock she could barely stand on and managed to find zen in the flow of the water moving past her. Her peace was disturbed a few moments later as the water swished, letting her know he was approaching. 

“A priestess bathing with a demon. One would think it were a witty aside.” 

“You’re sure talkative today, Lord Sesshoumaru.” She commented, eyes still closed as she kept her balance on the algae covered rock. 

“The present company is unusually silent.” 

Kagome sneaked a peak and found the demon startlingly close. Her foot slipped and she dunked beneath before an arm pulled her back onto the rock she’d been standing on. Sputtering she slapped his hand away.

“What is it with you and being around when I’m naked?” She groused. “It’s like you can tell when I’m about to take a bath and take it upon yourself to watch, you dirty dog!”

She glared at him and realized with a start he was holding back a mild mannered smirk.  
“Perhaps we find your flustered self amusing.” His eyes shifted to her shoulders, and she flinched when he reached out and managed to wind a strand of her dark hair around his finger. 

“It does not hurt you are fairer than most, and will not submit to flattery as quickly as others may. Having verbal sparring is pleasurable..” He paused, eyes darkening, “As is your naked vulnerability.”

She couldn’t tell if he was being serious, or if he was poking fun at her... But the way his eyes flashed made her wonder if she really was safest with such a predator in the water. A challenge lit in her eyes.

“You’ve seen all of me. Why not return the favor? If you’re gonna make me bathe with you all the time, or sneak up on me naked, I’d better get my fair share.”

Seriously, she was being completely shameless at this point, but it only seemed like a fair trade. If he was going to muckity muck around in her baths, she should get some ‘naked vulnerability’ from him as well! He gave her a carnivorous grin.  
“Are you certain you are prepared for such a magnanimous display?” He teased, circling her on her rock like a shark. She gave him a deadpan expression he seemed to be tickled with, and leaned back in the water as he headed for the shore.

“Don’t flatter yourself, Sesshoumaru. Back home, I’ve seen plenty enough I’m sure even you would be jealous of the textbook examples.” If he didn’t know enough to compare, he couldn’t be insulted, right?

“Very well. Remember it was you who requested, sweet priestess.” He warned playfully. Playfully? What fresh hell.... He slowly backed up the embankment and she stared wordlessly with every inch that came out. Kagome had seen enough of his marble carved chest to be pleased with his muscular display, even his arms when bared were pleasant to look at. But it was the gentle slope of the V at his flared hips that she stared at. It was like he knew where to pause in the water, letting her suffer as the slow reveal of wetted silver hair gave resting place to a half hardened member that made Kagome blink. Medical fascination paired with the unfathomable desire to touch it and make an up close examination as to whether or not it was really as long and thick as it looked almost overwhelmed her twenty year old self. The rest of him slowly made his way back toward the embankment, and she was looking over the entirety of his body. Lithe thighs, chorded calves, claws, and stripes in the oddest of places that seemed to compliment the subtle curves of his body. One hand splayed, sweeping over him in a gesture of showmanship she almost laughed at.

“Are we even, little miko?”

She met his teasing face and tone with a raised brow and managed to shovel all of her embarrassment away so it looked like she were merely appraising him with no sexual curiosity. 

“Almost. I mean, if you could give me a view of the other side - ” 

The words weren’t even out of her mouth as he slowly turned in a place, arms up. Even his ass was a perfect collection of chorded, carved muscles that twitched and jumped with ever move. She almost sighed. It wasn’t fair for someone who already had a perfection complex to be so naturally beautiful.  
“W-we’re even.” She stammered. He stalked towards her position in the water with that dangerous weapon between his thighs and she skirted around him as he moved towards her. “Honestly, I’ve been gone for a little longer than intended, I think its time for me to - ” 

He had managed to grasp her wrist as she attempted to flee, and found herself pressed against the unusually warm length of his body in the chilled water. 

“We have been meaning to have a conversation with you, and until now have not managed to find you without a following body.” 

He was moving back to the deeper parts of the water, naturally spinning them so his back was to the water as he pulled her along with him. She could feel her body betraying her already, nipples tight and hard as they brushed the skin of his abdomen and torihada rising on the skin of her hips where his other hand landed. 

“O-Oh?” Her voice cracked a touch. “What’s on your mind?” 

“Tell us what is on our mind, little priestess.” His deep voice rumbled in her ears like a tympany drum. “This little dance between us is becoming heated. It is our intention to test... Warmer waters?”

The hand on her hip was gliding down over her thigh, behind the back of her knee as his claws tickled her skin in such a way her heart thunder in her chest. She didn’t mean for the next sentence to come out in such a breathy tenor, but he was barely touching her in this cold water and she felt flushed and needy all over. 

“As charming as it is for you to use all of the anecdotes, I kinda wish you would just come out and tell me what you want.”

“We remember a lesson in your language learning the word fuck. As recalled, it means to fornicate?” He chuckled against her ear and wrapped one of her thighs around his hip. “We wish to fuck with you. Your company has been most pleasurable, simply in your presence. Perhaps your body will afford the same pleasure? That is, if you feel the same as we?”

“Oh, I’m definitely feeling some things.” Kagome mumbled under her breath. 

“What sorts of things..” His low timbre was almost a whisper on her ear. 

She hadn’t meant for him to hear her. Regardless, the stroke of his hands and the surge of heat through her body was demanding some sort of release. 

“I’m... Not sure... But I don’t know.” She admitted. “I like this. But I’m not sure I’m ready for.. Sex.” 

She felt his grip loosen and she brought one hand to steady herself on his shoulder as he swam in slow, unhurried circles. 

“There are other things beyond fucking this one could suggest...” 

His lips were right over hers as he said it, slowing his pace until he had one hand on the small of her back and another tucked into the curve of her knee as he pulled her legs over his abdomen. She felt her eyes growing lusty. Any will to resist was melting away, and as her center brushed the muscle of his abdomen it dissipated. 

“Like what...?” His mouth covered hers in a soft brush at first, then flooded forward with passion she’d never experienced that shot hot spirals of pleasure down through her toes. It wasn’t her first kiss, by any means. But it was her first kiss while completely naked with a man between her thighs, and if this emboldened feeling is what came with having someone as.. vigorous.. as he, then it was a feeling she was willing to explore. 

* Present Day*

Kagome wanted to slap the book shut but realized Shoma had already read through it. Surely he didn’t think she looked like -

“I will say, you bare a stunning resemblance to one of the paintings. Though I would only say in the face, as I have not had the pleasure of seeing as much of you as a woman as the painter.” There was amusement in his voice and she knew he was teasing her. The painting she had viewed before snapping the book shut was a woman floating in placid, dark water, breasts and knees causing gentle ripples in the water but hiding nothing even as her dark hair splayed about in the water. Kagome had been painted with her eyes closed with a look of bliss on her face, the white head between her legs hiding the apex of her sex. She could see his hands on her hips, remembered the way his arms had supported her in the water as she laid back and felt the lapping of his mouth on her body, suckling with the hunger of a starving man. The memory of the way he’d made her scream in the middle of the forest with nothing but a tormentuous mouth made her clutch the book to her chest. 

It was her one greatest regret. They had begun to play with one another, but never made it to sex. She glanced at Shoma. 

“Are there any copies? Maybe I could pay for one? I’m sure this is the original and it’s priceless.” She mumbled, saddened knowing that the possibility of leaving with this was probably completely off the table.   
“I shall look into what can be done if you really like them that much.” He sounded mildly surprised, but smiled. “I am glad to have lifted the veil of your sadness. You seem in much better spirits.”

She glanced at her phone and realized they had stayed until late into the night. 

“It’s getting late, and I haven’t even found the reference material I was looking for. Do you know what their policy on borrowing books is?”

Shoma’s confident face faltered. “No books are permitted beyond the building. They must stay on premises, and until you can confirm your place here, you must have a chaperone with you in the building that can vouch for your position at all times.”

Her face fell.

“I don’t want to put you out or anything... But how would you feel if we had another trip here where I brought a piece with me to look for in the library? It really would help with the research if I could make copies and find it here.”

Shoma nodded, and she exhaled in relief. 

“It would be a pleasure to bring you here as often as you like.” He looked around the wondrous place with a soft smile. “It is a place of peace for one like me.”

She nodded. Being in a place where history was revered was the same she imagined as a library was for a writer. 

“Shall we leave?”  
Kagome nodded. “Seeing as I’m not allowed back at the dig site, it looks like I’ll be going to work tomorrow. Best be back so I can sleep a bit before I have to get up tomorrow.”

Shoma pulled the book from her chest and they walked out together discussing the pieces between them they had read. Shoma excused himself to speak with the short little toad of a man sitting behind the desk before he rejoined her. Calling his driver, they headed back for the bar where her car still sat in the parking lot, and she turned to him as they exited, tapping one toe on the pavement.

“Shoma... I can’t even... You don’t know what you’ve done for me tonight. I appreciate it so much there aren’t even words.” She said softly, finally meeting his prying hazel gaze. He waved her off.  
“Anything to pull a friend from the depths of despair. It is a true shame to see one so kind so unhappy.” 

She laughed as he turned the appreciation for company on her, and she stopped him.

“Still. I appreciate it. There are things and feelings I never thought I would get to feel again. It’s a great thing to be able to savor surprise and regret again in fond ways. Thank you.” Kagome gathered her courage and stepped up to the tall dark haired man, placing both hands on a firm chest as a balance as she pressed a soft kiss onto his cheek. Stepping back before he could do anything else, she turned and pulled her keys from her pocket, trying not to feel like a teenager with a crush all over again. She dipped down into her car, pretending to check her phone for messages and waiting for Shoma’s car to pull around. When it left the parking lot, and she was sure she was alone, she rested her head against the steering wheel of her car, and gave in to the cries she’d held back the second she’d seen paintings of life before and after her.

~*~

The following morning she headed for work, feeling more spent than she had in a long time. Her emotions were fried. It was a deep and painful pull at her heartstrings, all these little pieces coming together. Shoma couldn’t possibly have known what he had found was a precious part of her past, could he? Somehow, just like with Sesshoumaru all those hundreds of year ago, she felt like Shoma seemed to know when she was at her most vulnerable. There was a small part of her that associated Shoma with Sesshoumaru, but she chalked it more up to small similarities in their personalities, or maybe even the hope that he was still alive. It wasn’t fair to put such a hope in him. All the doubts she had with Danske were beginning to spill over, weren’t they? Sitting down to her desk, she scrubbed her tired eyes. Once she had finally fallen asleep after crying her eyes out in misery, she had slept through her first alarm, and woken late. Not that Sosuke was expecting her at work today - her week had been freed up with her push of paperwork at the end of last week. So when she had shown up today, he’d been more than a little surprised. Coffee and doughnuts had found their way to her desk, where she was trying to work on information about the Library of Spirits and how to get a permanent invitation there, on top of looking more into the origins and samples of the suit she had been sent last week. Trying to get pieces off of it without compromising the whole thing was one of the most nerve wracking thing’s she’d ever done, but once the swabs and sample tubes were readied, she had them sent out. By noon, she was leaning over her desk scouring the internet for other rumors of the Library of Spirits with a glazed doughnut in her mouth and a pencil holding her hair out of the way. A knock nearly had her dropping the sugar covered dough and she snatched it midair, looking up and finding a florist on their way in with a lovely winter array of poinsettias and a card. Her stomach did a flip, hoping it was Shoma and being disturbed by the crushing disappointment it was Danske.

_ Miss you already! _ It read in his customary chicken scratch. Kagome sighed and thanked the florist as they left, tossing the card to one side of her desk before taking another bite of sugary fried goodness. Chewing slowly, she looked over the flowers and considered Shoma’s advice the night before. Guilt still pricked at her, but the realization she was wasting poor Danske’s time trying to make up her mind made her feel just as contrite. It was a conversation she needed to have, she decided with a nod of her head as the doughnut dangled from her mouth. They would just be friends. Right? Kagome finished the doughnut and sucked the sugar from her fingers as she appraised the flowers with a confused brow aimed at them, still debating the pros and cons. 

“Kagome dear!” Sosuke called from her doorway, letting himself in. “Any closer to your research on that suit you received?”

Kagome shrugged and licked more of the glaze off her lips.  
“I found a source, but I’m not super sure if I can get the material here. The library is pretty strict on its lending policies, and while I have my information written up, I still need to find sources to reference for the benefactor requesting the information.”

Sosuke kerfuffled from his mustache, throat clearing as he stroked the handlebar. 

“Speaking of benefactors, this one has sent a request that the next piece he sends, which he has in the works for you as a personal gift for your hard work, be received in person at his estate alongside some other pieces he wants to donate from his private collection. Would you...” he worked his hands, cleaning his monocle on a pocket square. “Mind terribly if you were to meet with this gentleman to thank him for his generous donations? He is holding some kind of charity event at one of the old gala rooms in the area and will have those pieces ready for you to escort back here by the end of the evening.”

Kagome groaned. While she was tickled with the pieces they had received in the last few months, a couple years back when she had just started working for the museum, she’d been sent to schmooze another fuddy duddy old man who had decided to be unseemly and gross towards her. Somehow, when an old rich man gave money to a museum and the museum sent a young woman to thank the benefactor, they seemed to think she was there to sleep with them. She had assured him that was not an option, and they had lost a benefactor. 

“Sosuke, that ended in disaster last time. Please don’t make me do this again.”

Sosuke waved his hand with a series of huffs.

“Now now now, come on Kagome dear! We stood behind you in that, and if it happens again.. Why... Why I’ll give ‘em a good talking to!” He insisted, putting up his fists. “A good pop to the old ear and they’ll be right as rain.” 

Kagome laughed at the image he made, the rotund old man hopping around jabbing the air as he chuckled. “Fair enough. When again?”  
“The week after next. I’ll send you the details, its on a card I have..” he patted his jacket pocket. “Somewhere.. here... I’ll be right back with the charity invite Kagome my dear!” 

Once Sosuke was out of ear shot, she slammed her forehead on her desk and swore loudly. What else could go wrong this week?

~*~

True to his update status, Mr. Velvet released a new update that she was more than happy to oblige in this week. Two more days of dread and she was ready to unwind with a hot bath and some wine. 

“Research found Kora unhappily pawing at the papers on her desk, sifting through what was worthy of her attention and what was not. The mundane turns she took in her office were a necessary evil, she had already learned, and was willing to put up with in light of the adventures to be had once the paperwork was out of the way. With Desmond in the wind after his last foiled attempt at robbing their vault of the bejeweled feather, she was playing guard dog the last month or so afterwards. While their security was tight it was nowhere near the caliber of her training. Her colleague, Veska sat at the edge of her desk fiddling with a copied manuscript, deciphering the runes for their next big find.”  
  
Taking a sip of deep red wine, she listened, waiting for the big reveal. He’d gone two updates without any more sexual tension, and she could feel the need of the main character building to a fever pitch. 

“Their companionship had taken a rocky turn. Veska finding her pushed against the shower wall, naked and panting beneath her ex-lover had brought about fights that lacked any kind of legible passion. The last few times he’d pricked the issue, she’d been dispassionate in her responses, even if they were slightly defensive. 

‘What.’

There was a shrug from Veska.

‘Your eyes are heavy. I can feel you staring. What?’

‘Why him?’

Kora slammed the papers down on the desk she had been animatedly going through, finally exhausted with the constant questioning. 

‘Why not him? I can’t even get half the  _ joie de vivre _ from you I get from fighting with Des. You tire me with your incessant whining. You want something? Figure it out. Figure your life out.’ She could not stop the disgust rising in the back of her throat like bile as she pushed him out of the office, slamming the door shut on him and leaning on it as though he would try to burst back in. Once upon a time, his company had been the hand of comfort and a soothing soul balm. Today, it felt like work and she had plenty of such a thing sitting on her desk.”

This was not a turn Kagome was expecting. Her stomach knotted with a familiar dread. Being able to identify with the character this well was beginning to become a bit annoying, especially when it was all unpleasant feelings. This wasn’t what she was here for. 

“Get to the good stuff, mister!” She mumbled into her wine glass.

“It took a few more moments of looking at the desk with disdain before she decided today was a good day to sneak away from all of it. She looked at the small window behind and above her desk. She pulled the desk over, standing atop of it before unlocking the small window and squeezing out. Lowering herself gently, slowly, she dropped the last five feet with care. The docks were a twenty minute run, and she was ready for the smell of fresh air cooled off the water. She was drenched in sweat by the time she arrived, walking down the creaking boards of the dock where her own small sailboat was tied. She pulled off her shoes, socks, and rolled the bottoms of her jeans down as she dipped her toes in the dark blue of the water, leaning back to watch the clouds as her stomach tried to untwist itself. 

‘You come here too often.’

Kora swore, hopping up from where she had finally found a modicum off peace. 

‘Why are you even here?’ She spat angrily. ‘One fight doesn’t mean Veska and I are over. And pull that stupid fucking bug out of my office or I’ll find it and destroy it you twat.’

Desmond’s face tightened with hindered laughter as he came to join her, quietly leaning against one of the floating dock’s pillars 

‘I shall leave it to you. Something tells me crushing something would help relieve the tension of a forced love.’ He commented snidely. Kora rolled her eyes and picked up her shoes and socks, hopping onto her boat and headed beneath the deck. The boat rocked as he followed, stepping down.

‘It’s creepy enough you listen in on my conversations and follow me all over the world to beat me to artifacts. Can’t you give me a second to myself?’ She fumed, spinning on one foot, hands on hips. Desmond was unexpectedly close, and she almost tumbled into him when a particularly unruly wave knocked into the boat. She steadied herself when he caught her chin between his fingers.

‘You know that bug is there but in the last two months, you’ve made no motion to remove it. I’ve heard that ridiculous fumbling he calls sex in your office on more than one occasion.’ He chuckled. ‘If I didn’t know any better, one would think you enjoyed the exhibition.’

Kora’s entire body blushed with his remark, but she held her defiant stance.’

Kagome squealed. Finally! 

“She didn’t bite his hand, but the temptation to do so was overwhelming.

‘Has it maybe occurred to you that I was trying to force you to see I’d moved on?’ She shot back.

‘Poorly. Very poorly.’ 

The caress of his breath on her lips as he came closer had her heart racing. 

‘Your opinion is biased. You’ve always thought you were the gods’ gift to men and women alike.’ 

He smirked, and she could feel the faintest feathering of his silken lips over hers. 

‘I couldn’t help it; the way you praised them when you were beneath me gave me the confidence to feel as such.’ 

The distance was closed, and her knotted stomach flipped and stretched as his other hand came to cup her cheek. Releasing her chin, his other fingers swept down the smooth column of her throat, thumbing the base as it smoothed down the side of her shoulder, to her hand. Guiding her hand to his shoulder he could feel her give in to the temptation he presented her, and with one swift decisive movement she was wrapped around his waist, knees on the edge of the small bed on board. Her soft pants and gentle moans as his fingers swirled over the sensitive skin of her navel were heavenly, and the sparks he was sending over her with each passion stamped kiss was driving her mad.”

Kagome grinned as she drained her wineglass and set it aside. One foot slid out from the bubbles of her bath to turn the handle for more hot water.

“The waves lapped in time with his restless hips as they moved against her jeans. He was stealing her breath away with every heated press, only finding herself in the same insistent rhythm he was setting. Somewhere along the way they had shed clothing and the light was beginning to dim in a firey orange light that lit both of them afire. Desmond’s calloused caress was the only thing she needed in this moment. Everything felt like it was falling into place, and as his long fingers found her entrance, she cried out. Her fingernails ripped into his skin the moment he plunged into the slick warmth of her body, and seemed to revel in the slow cadence of discovering her all over again.”

The bath water was not the only thing heated. Kagome felt that same heat gather in her loins, and as she always did, feathered her fingers over her hips imagining someone else. Her eyes closed as she stroked one hip, and her other found the lips of her sex, tapping and playing along the sensitized skin and stroking the soft curls there. 

“Kora soon met his hand eagerly, picking up the movements with fervor until she was wrapped firmly around his fingers, refusing to let them leave her tightened channel...” 

The reader’s deep voice stroked Kagome in ways she adored. His story fell away for a plotline of her own, one that had her remembering the painting she’d stumbled across in the library. He had been firm, gentle, commanding and insistent. Not that she remembered any real misgivings. She’d been naked in front of him enough to feel comfortable enough (even if it wasn’t necessarily by choice), and when he’d made his offer she didn’t want to seem... Over-eager to accept even if she was ready to spend some of her frustration on him. 

Her fingers dipped further into the curtain of her womanhood and she sighed as she gently tapped the tenderness of her clit. Running one finger firmly over it had her hips pressing into her hand, and her wild imagination had replaced her finger with the insistent press of his tongue. She moaned, letting her fingers touch and tease, twisting occasionally and swirling in a delightful motion until her adrenaline pounded through her like a hammer.   
“Please..” She whispered to nobody in particular; her mind supplied his towering figure leaning in full armor with his arms crossed tutting at her. 

“We do love the sound that tumbled from your lips in this manner.” 

She swallowed hard. His voice was almost real, supplied by memory and the man speaking. 

“We always wondered if all humans were as responsive as you were.”

Her pulse was thundering in her throat and her body was taut with want, so close to that edge.

“The motions of his fingers inside her were drawing her to the delicious precipice of oblivion she’d so desperately been searching for and been unable to find for much too long. Desmond’s breath brushed the shell of her ear as he spoke in a low, rumbling timbre.

‘Cum for me Kag- Kora.’” 

Kagome let out a cry as her orgasm washed over her like warm light, hips and thighs twitching blissfully. Sinking into the water as her body bathed in afterglow, she moaned and sighed, still listening as the cast was ended quietly and quickly by the woman’s voice. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are the best presents! Thank you, bandcandygiles, majorblood89, mim, and milomai19! Constructive Criticism is always welcome, as becoming a better writer is always the end goal.  
> Thank you for reading!


	9. The Upsides

“Get laid, daddio. Your personal life is gonna fuck up your writing.” Nina shook her head as Sesshoumaru pulled his long coat on to face the rain outside. 

“I will take your advice about romance when you begin to take mine about your hair.” He sniped. She huffed at him.

“Get snippy with me all you like, but we both know you almost said her name in this podcast. That, and I’m just gonna keep my eyes up to your face. I get that you’re a red-blooded male, but it’s no less awkward to know you have a boner after listening to you read about a guy you identify with finger banging the girl of your fantasies.” She positively fled the recording studio, wishing not to have any further conversation with him about the subject, and Sesshoumaru was grateful for her hasty exit. Truthfully, there was a touch of worry that she’d figured out he was writing and reading for audio and had heard the minor mishap. The chapter was abruptly ended the second he had confused the names; Nina had mercifully cut in and managed to end it before he made the mistake again. The rain outside was coming down in angry sheets and he sighed. It had been a week or so since the Library of Souls and his mind was on her every other waking moment. 

He had lain himself out for her, even given her advice one would think had sabotaged her relationship with the unworthy whelp, but had only been sent a few thank you texts and invites to have drinks, all of which were turned down if only because he’d been too busy and knew from context that whelp would probably be in attendance. Pocketing his phone and picking up the cross body bag his tablet for reading was in, he strode into the raging storm outside where his driver and car were waiting. 

“The Pub, if you please.” He requested. The driver nodded and pulled away for the bar. A few drinks would be in order after this ridiculous mishap. Fifteen minutes later, Aniah was patting his shoulder and laughing at him as she slid an icy mug of his favorite lager over. 

“I heard it! Oh my god, but I heard it.” She was obnoxiously animated as she clapped her hands and ducked her head with laughter, trying to hide the cackle spilling out of her. While Sesshoumaru was not one to pout, he did intend to drown his sorrows in beer, and slouched forward with both hands around the cold mug melting the ice on the glass’s surface. 

“Seriously, everyone heard it and anyone who KNOWS you is gonna know.” Aniah chuckled again, finally tempering her laughter with a shit-eating grin. 

“Your observations are noted, disregarded, and thrown in the bin behind the counter where you keep the rubbish.” He grumbled, taking a long drink from the glass as his aura lashed over her. She took no notice of his irritations, still leaned forward as she bopped his nose with her fingertip. 

“Baby, you need to loosen up. It’s cute watching you pine away. I’ve never seen you so upset with yourself before, and you caught your mistake. That scene was super hot by the way. Sex in a sailboat is fun.” She winked at him, patting his hand before her attention was called away by another regular. Sesshoumaru sighed heavily, one hand holding his forehead as he leaned against the counter. By the time the first beer was down, his stomach was still churning. From what he recalled in their conversations, she didn’t seem to know what he wrote about or even research his name; thus it made sense that it was possible she hadn’t heard the audio from his reading this evening. Or at least he hoped desperately she was so enamored with her own issues as she always was that it wasn’t on her radar at all. 

“Fancy meeting you here. I thought you were busy today?” 

Her aura was in his space and the dread on his face was quickly sequestered as he looked over his shoulder. There she stood, in a low cut long sleeved black shirt and a matching pair of distressed jeans. Chunky black heels made her taller, her hair was an artful mess of waves and bangs, and around her neck hung a delicate silver chain with a crescent moon on it. Inwardly, Sesshoumaru moaned as the tortured soul he was letting himself be. 

“I just got out of work. It was a rough day. We are drowning our sorrows.”  
“We?” She commented, straddling the stool beside him. It was obscene. His imagination was still in overdrive from reading the sexually charged scene, and he could see those jean clad thighs craddled against his waist. Fuck. 

“My manager is most likely drowning her sorrows as well. You’ve met Nina.” He answered with a soft smile as he pulled himself up and drank through half the beer in his mug. She frowned, leaning forward and patting his arm.

“Everyone has shitty days. No worries. Are you gonna let me buy you a round, make it better?” She asked coyly, batting those big brown eyes at him mischievously. He looked away and scrubbed his face before hanging his head in defeat.

“For you, sweet Kagome, anything. So long as we drink together.” 

She nodded matter-of-factly and waved at Aniah, who slid their direction with an open mouthed smile and laughter all over her face.

“Heeee~y baby! Welcome back, always good to see you here pretty lady! What can I get you miss Ka-go-me?” Aniah said, leaning against the bar all mischief.

“You’re the sweetest, Aniah! I’m gonna cover my friend’s tab tonight, it sounds like he had a pretty rough day. And may I please have a sample of the newer, sweeter chocolate stout you have on tap? That sounds yum!” Kagome laughed as Aniah nodded as she snatched up Kagome’s card and danced away from the bar, winking at Sesshoumaru. 

“So what made the day so terrible?” Kagome asked him. She was leaned against the counter on both of her forearms, the line of her back making the roundness of her bottom stark against the warm light of the bar. 

“Mispronounced something a few times live. Always an embarrassment amongst peers.” He answered after another long pull and a harsh swallow. Her brow furrowed, but she took a sip of the sampler Aniah placed before her and nodded, pointing at the glass for a bigger one.

“I apologize, I can’t say I’ve been in the same boat. I mean -” She paused thoughtfully, one finger on her reddened lips as she chewed the inside of it, “I guess I could see that being a little bad in front of my peers, but I know I wouldn’t be ridiculed over a little mistake. Is the heckling really that bad in your field?” 

Sesshoumaru blinked at the clueless priestess and couldn’t help the full-bodied chuckle he loosed. 

“It can be.” He glanced over at their lovely waitress who was bringing Kagome’s mug back with the dark liquid. That stupid grin was still plastered on her face. “Ask Aniah. She’s been making fun of me all night.”

Aniah put the mug down and feigned hurt.

“We prefer to call it laughing with, not at. Besides, pretty sure his little kerfuffle was because he had someone sexy on his mind.” She shot back. Sesshoumaru raised a scolding brow, and she skipped back to the counter where dishes were being removed from the sanitizer.

Kagome laughed.

“I really like Aniah. She kills!” Kagome nudged him with her elbow. “Is it true? Thinking of someone sexy?”

Sesshoumaru drained his beer and Aniah was already coming back for the mug. 

“I am afraid I have not had nearly enough beer to discuss that. Nor have you.”

Kagome gave him a suspect smile.

“Oh?”

“It is in my best interest overall if we are both drunk enough to forget the conversation. I prefer speaking of my conquests more modestly in the presence of those unused to my pillow talk.” 

Kagome giggled and he hated life in the shadows. He wanted to kiss her, drag her out of the bar, and worship the gods this night loudly and without shame. She was in a good mood, and his misery in the moment had blocked him from figuring out why. One accidental and deep inhale revealed what had her so radiant. Beneath the scent of roses and bath salt was the lingering scent of release. Only hers, there was no other scent on her but hers. Fuck... fuck Fuck  _ FUCK _ . Using every manner of self-discipline he had learned in his thousands of years on earth, he redirected the blood racing to his cock at the realization she had just come from masturbating and was still riding the afterglow in his presence, drinking beer to elongate the good feeling.

Then, Aniah’s mischief rubbed off on him. What exactly had she been thinking of when this happened, and why come for a beer so soon...?

“And you? What brings you here?”

Kagome wiggled at her seat as she took a happy sip of her beer. 

“Damn that’s good... I’m here because I was feeling pretty good about my day.” Her cheeks warmed as she took another few swallows of the robustly sweet beer. “Actually... Between you and me, can you keep a secret?” 

She leaned closer to him, and her blush was growing. 

“So pillow talk right?” 

Sesshoumaru’s regret was beginning to simmer below the surface. While he didn’t smell The Whelp, he would be displeased if this was going to be an admission of his sexual prowess. Sesshoumaru didn’t take kindly to jealousy - it was a waste of anger. 

“Between you and me, there is this new podcast I’m listening to that calls himself Mr. Velvet..” He could see she was growing embarrassed. “And on the update days, I listen in the bathtub because he just has the hottest voice. I mean, I like the sound a lot. Danske is sweet and all but this guy... Wow.”

Sesshoumaru blinked at her, speechless, willing his mouth to shut as it worked to say something.

“My friend Eri suggested it a few months ago, and he’s recently changed up his work to this great new piece. I mean, don’t get me wrong, the last few updates have been really boring, but his writing just does it for me. It might just be the voice..” She paused and took a long pull from her mug. He could smell her nerves as she admitted this and grinned.

“Oh?” Sesshoumaru inquired, suddenly delighted and failing just as much to keep it off his face. She smacked his arm.

“Shuddup. Sometimes deep voices just do it for me. Surely you have preferences!” She defended playfully, clutching her mug in both hands. 

_ Oh, if only you knew little priestess. _

The irony of this was too pleasant, too good. She had come to the bar, feeling good after a bout of fingering to him reading a sex scene he had imagined with her in it, and she had no idea. He laughed suddenly and she was so preoccupied with herself, he knew unless he transformed in front of her or copped to being the writer, these were things she would never assume.

“Are you saying I do not have a deep voice?” He pressed his fingers into his chest in a mockery of regality. 

Kagome laughed, loosening from her tension.

“You do, you do, but -” 

“I do!” He interrupted, holding his hand up. “Therefore it is plausible that I could do it for you too.” 

Kagome’s blush deepened. 

“I mean.. I guess.” She answered bashfully. “You are pretty hot. It stands to reason that you have a harem of other girls at your behest though!”

“Do you have a harem of men at yours?” He poked fun at her as they leaned forward, keeping their flirting closely knit. “You seem to forget you are the standard of beauty itself.” 

“I think...” She said slowly with a wagging finger in his direction as she leaned closer to him, “You just want to get into my pants, like most guys do.” 

Sesshoumaru barked a laugh and took a swig of lager. “Is it such a terrible place to be, in the pants of a marvelous woman?” 

Kagome laughed.

“Depends on which way you swing!” She answered, finishing her first beer and asking for another. “Now. I told you my deep dark secret - ” 

He huffed and she floundered.

“What?!”

“Deep dark secret. Hardly!” He boasted as Aniah came back with two more of their beers. “Even Aniah listens to smutty podcasts, don’t you?” 

“Preach!” She shouted as she turned and raised a fist before striding away to answer the call of more patrons. 

“You’re deep dark secret is every other woman’s Tuesday night!” He chuckled, drinking the fresh beer. She took a hard drink of hers, swiping at the foaming mustache it gave her.

“Hmm... then I guess my dark secret is that I kinda prefer it to dating. So it’s my date night for myself, and I’m enjoying this guy’s voice more than I’m enjoying my boyfriend’s piece.” The whole thing tumbled out of her like a guilty, drink laden admission that had both of them in peels of laughter. 

“A shame, truly.”

“What part?”

“That you only have his voice and not his member.” Sesshoumaru’s brows raised and fell. Her head fell forward as she laughed. 

“For all I know, Shoma, he’s a fat guy that lives in his mom’s basement and has never done anything but write smut all his life.” She straightened and shook her finger at him. “Never meet your idols - they will always leave you disappointed.”

He didn’t know if it was the beer that was making him bold, or if it was learning all these nifty new things about his priestess that pushed him to move closer and continue their flirting, but he couldn’t find it in him to care. 

“It is unkind to judge so harshly a man you’ve never met. I could say the same for your boyfriend. Speaking of which, where is your escort tonight?”

Her face twisted.

“I’m not gonna lie - I blew off another date so I could have my own date at home with Mr. Velvet. The update was kinda short, so I figured I would come here and finish my date on a fun note, which is why I’m sitting beside you.”

“Naturally. I am pleased you have come to my corner of the bar.” He smirked at her, leaning comfortably on the bar. “It certainly brightened a dull evening.”

She smiled softly, fiddling with the edge of her beer. 

“Say... Remember those paintings at the library you took me to?” She said softly, barely audible over the hubbub of the bar. His head tilted. So she had been thinking about the painting as well...

“I do.”

“You mentioned you were going to try and get me a copy of the book. How much will it cost, do you know?” She asked softly, looking up at him through her thick lashes. 

“Truthfully I am attempting to work it out with the librarian. He’s being unusually stubborn with the books.” He answered softly. He tapped beneath her chin with an elegant finger. “Chin up. I am positive he will come around.”

Kagome smiled softly.

“You’re too damn nice to have a harem packed away.” She sighed, studying him for a long moment.

“Only for you, Kagome.” He rumbled. She seemed to shiver before she looked over him with heavy eyes. 

“I don’t know why Shoma, but you remind me so much of him.”

Sesshoumaru’s eyes narrowed, sliding his seat closer so she was easily heard. 

“Him again?”

She reached out and touched his cheek where his stripes endured beneath a concealment spell using his natural energy, marking their path with the pad of her finger. His eyes slid closed under her gentle ministrations, sucking in a breath when her finger traced up to his dulled human-esque ears. He grabbed her hand before she could inspire more heat, kissing her wrist and nipping at it’s pulse.

“Who is him that I get such a loving greeting?” He growled against her skin, eyeing her from his grip on her wrist. Her heart rate had spiked, her scent delightfully robust and her skin flushed with need.

“Someone ageless. I knew him a long time ago, and always wondered, ‘What if?’” Her answer was said through gleaming eyes. “He was a complete pain in my ass, always bursting in at the worst times, intentionally getting me flustered and angry. He was good though. Deep down.”

“You’ve mentioned him before. What happened?” 

He wanted to close his eyes and pretend he really was Shoma, completely oblivious to what had happened save for speculation. She sighed and tried to pull her hand back, only to have him nip at her fingertips lightly causing her to giggle again.

“We lost the opportunity to meet again. Things worked against us, and I never saw him again.”

Sesshoumaru’s hand released her wrist in favor of pushing a thick lock of hair back over her cheek, trailing the tip of his finger over her cheek as she had done before cupping it. 

“Were you broken hearted?”

The beer was clearly making her vulnerable, because she closed her eyes and leaned into his touch.

“Briefly. 'What if?' is an awful question to face and it echoes around you all the time with memories that seem to find you at odd times. I hope he found love.” She answered warmly, clutching the hand at her cheek.

“I hope he went mad with want. That he suffered until the end of time pining for you. It makes for a far more romantic story. One worthy of you.” Their knees were touching, the loudness of the bar seemed to fade around them as the world narrowed. He pressed his advantage, drawing her closer until his lips pressed against hers in a chaste kiss. Gods, it was everything he had waited for. He hadn’t even dipped his tongue in, and already her taste was sweet in his mouth, like chocolate. The smallest, barely perceptible moan slipped from her and his body was on fire with want.

“Kagome..” He rasped, hand fisting in her hair.

“Sesshoumaru...” Her response was fitting, deeply desired, but he could feel his entire body stiffen. It seemed to coax her out of her stupor, and she blinked at him, then her flush turned from arousal to embarrassment. 

“Oh god. I’m... I’m so sorry I didn’t.. Shoma...” She babbled, standing abruptly. “I think... Oh my god, I think I’m just going to go home and die.” She covered her face with her hands, fleeing from the bar even as Aniah called after her waving her card. She gave Sesshoumaru an angry look as she approached the bar.

“What the fuck did you - ” 

He didn’t stand around waiting for her to berate him, snatching the card and moving swiftly after her, calling her name. He was out the door and across the street, managing to shut her car door just before she could duck back and trapping her against it.

“Stop.” 

The sting of salt met his nose. She was crying, or at least on the verge of tears.

“You did nothing wrong. I understand.” He soothed softly. “The only thing I question is why you would leave your credit card behind for me to drink my sorrows away at your sudden departure?”

He managed to press his hands into her hips until she had turned and was facing him with teary eyes. He took her hand and kissed the back of it before clenching her hand around the card, holding it firmly but gently in his own. 

“It is not fair that you feel any kind of guilt or ache for someone so long ago. You deserve love. You are too good not to have it.” 

Sesshoumaru found his other hand moving against his will to touch her face again when a deeply maledict voice sounded behind them.

“Kagome...? Are you all right?” 

Sesshoumaru released her hand and Kagome straightened. 

“I- I’m fine.” She stammered. “Shoma here was just returning my card.. I forgot to grab it on my way out?”  
Danske looked between them and Sesshoumaru recognized the darkening in his eyes as he moved to put himself between Kagome and himself. Sesshoumaru nearly growled, but didn’t back down.

“You can go. I’ll make sure she gets home safe.” Danske insisted aggressively.

“So long as that is what Kagome desires.” He remarked, intentionally looking past the whelp to Kagome’s glistening eyes. They were littered with confusion and frustration, and he had no intention making it harder for her; but he’d be damned if he walked off and left her in the hands of someone that would merely take advantage of her heightened emotional state to do the unspeakable with her again.

“It’s fine Shoma. I only had a couple beers, I barely feel them. I’m headed home now, Danske. I’ll call you later.”

“But -” He began to protest.

“Later.” She shot. He looked cowed enough to back off, but his glare still found it’s way back to Sesshoumaru as she ducked into her car. Sesshoumaru turned and went to walk back across the road, nearly back at the door when a hard tap at his shoulder stopped him.

“What the fuck is your problem, asshole? Why was she crying?” 

Sesshoumaru harnessed the very inhuman snarl before it left his throat.

“That is between she and I. That being said, if she respects you enough, perhaps she’ll tell you.” He answered flippantly, pulling away from the human’s hand. The fool had enough gumption to attempt to shove him, which was the last straw. Sesshoumaru turned slowly. Frustrations at being denied his prize in light of this whelp interrupting had his natural state bleeding through their failing concealment spells. Where the brown haired human looked incensed before, fear lit the back of his eyes as Sesshoumaru’s arm snatched out and grasped him firmly by the throat. Picking him up with ease and raising him off the concrete path, he squeezed until the pathetic creature flailed. 

“You may think this act of bravery will get you somewhere in her eyes. It will not. Even out of her sight, you are nothing but a sniveling mass of mediocrity, and by her grace alone you are in her arms. Mark the words out of my mouth - the moment she is done with you, I will have fucked her five ways you will not have thought possible. Whether you believe me or not, I have loved her lifetimes before you were born, and will do so long after she is gone.”

The human in his grasp had stopped flailing, face going blue when Sesshoumaru finally released him, letting him slide to the ground in a wheezing heap. Moving back into the bar, Sesshoumaru’s darkened aura cleared his path for him as he went to sit back in his corner of the bar. The beer where he’d been sitting was gulped down in a handful of swallows and Aniah cautiously approached. 

“What the fuck is going on with your face, Shoma? I didn’t know you had tattoos there. Shit, I didn’t even know you were wearing contacts either.”

Her observations annoyed him, but a moment of meditation had his eyes back to their human color, and the marks of his heritage fading. 

Aniah’s face paled.

“Who are you...?”

Sesshoumaru decided to sit back to his full height, grasping Kagome’s unfinished beer and slamming it back before shoving the empty mug back towards Aniah.

“We are Sesshoumaru of the Western Lands and an Ageless Demon Lord. We have lived well over a millennium, and what you saw were the true marks of our heritage. Speak to whomever. There isn’t a soul that would believe we, in all of our grandness, would spend his free time in a hole in the wall pub drinking beer with a priestess.”

He slid both of the mugs toward her and stood.

“I will see you some time this weekend, if all goes as horribly as it did this evening.”

Aniah said nothing, merely nodding and staring after him with wide-eyed wonder and horror. 

~*~

Kagome fled in every sense of the word. Humiliation burned the back of her throat and the scene kept replaying like she was living in a nightmare. Her car couldn’t drive fast enough, and she couldn’t sprint with any sense of grace before she finally managed to shut and lock her apartment door behind her. It was moments like these, Kagome thought, that she deeply missed her friends. Sango would have been shocked, Eri would laugh at her, Yuka would pat her head, and Ayume would shrug it off. All of those reactions were needed, if only so it didn’t have to waste the rest of her week moping and avoiding both men while she sorted all of this out in her feelings. 

She slid down the front door, back planted comfortably there as she cradled her head in her hands and tried to rationalize away the feelings of inadequacy. Shoma had taken her calling him by someone else’s name fantastically well, even though the initial reaction was him going stiff as a board. Thank the gods she was busy for the rest of the week. There was no way she’d be able to face Shoma again for the foreseeable future. This upcoming weekend was the charity event Mr. Sosuke had insisted she attend; which meant at least looking for something she could rent depending on the where the function was being held. What a shit show... Her night had been going perfectly, almost ending on a beautiful note when Shoma had kissed her. She slapped a palm across her head. 

Shoma..

Had kissed her. And Danske had caught them in another intimate moment that would have had her screaming about unfaithfulness if she’d caught him. Kagome scrubbed her face with her hands before flailing as she stood back up.

“We’re just gonna forget this horrible night happened. Horrible night? What horrible night?!” Kagome said with a manic laugh, shedding her clothes as she stomped to the bathroom to go cry in the shower. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews give inspiration - Thank you for them, milomai19, elevenharbor, Sakura_the_red_panda, LynnNexus, majorblood89, effinsusie & mim! Constructive Criticism is welcome, and may everyone be enjoying the seasons as they change.  
> Thank you for reading!


	10. Sway

Kagome walked into work blissfully unaware of anything, having made it a point to stay that way since the day before. Officially for herself, she’d hit the reset button the day before, deciding the best way to deal with this wasn’t to deal with it. And ten missed calls from Danske ) later (as well as a dozen or so texts from both him and Shoma, there was still an air of denial surrounding her that allowed her to walk into her office in an ankle length pencil skirt, flowing white business top and thick, strapped platform heels like she owned the museum. The only downside was that it still showcased the quickly healing, but still rather ugly talon marks on her arm. The smaller cuts and bruises were already beginning to fade, but the talon marks were being unusually stubborn. Maybe she should consider visiting a local herb shop and make a poultice later on? She sighed. Not that she had the time today or tomorrow. 

Sipping a double tall toffee latte from a disposable cup, she eyed some of the new pieces as they were being brought in the back doors, and situated by those a little larger than her, directing them as to where they would be resting until their debut as official displays. 

Today was the day she was meant to meet up with one of the official benefactors, which was the only reason she had heels on in the first place let alone any semblance of something that could be dirtied with dust. Hopefully, she thought to herself as she dusted her skirt off, they would find her dirtied skirt a testament to her dedication to the museum. Another sip of hot coffee and a glance over the clipboard in her other hand, and she was off to the front of the museum to see how they were doing putting together her sketch of the Feudal Armor display they’d received while she was at the dig site. 

Once the busy work was done, she headed back to her desk to finish paperwork for the day so she could excuse herself and head for the meeting place. Sosuke rounded the corner of her office the same time she sat down with a flustered red face.

“Something else came from the benefactor for you!” 

He raced over and planted a midsize security box, carefully placing it as she opened the top drawer of her desk and removed her bagged white examining gloves with glee. 

“God, I love it when he sends stuff. It’s like Christmas came early every time!” 

She popped the locks and opened the top end carefully, hissing under her breath when she saw not one, but two items she recognized from the dig site she was on. One was the chain scythe they had uncovered, and another was a scroll from one of the rooms. It hadn’t been restored, per say, but it was in far better condition than when she’d seen it on the far end of the wall, meaning they had managed to get back into castle and retrieve a good portion of what was left without trouble. 

It made her think of Danske, and a small part of her wished him good health just in case they had hit trouble. She pushed him forcefully out of mind and focused on unwrapping the scroll, realizing what had been sent.

“Oh my god... Sosuke are you reading this?” She marveled, face tinged pink with excitement. “This is proof I was right - these scrolls belong to demon slayers of the Feudal Era, detailing how to make demon bone weapons..” 

Her eyes narrowed as she read on.

“Or at least one of them!”

Sosuke flustered around her, flailing his arms as he tried not to shake her while she held the delicate document. 

“What a fantastic breakthrough! The research paper will make us the talk of Japan!” He paused in his happy little trot, eyes widening further and nearly dropping the monocle off his face. “Do you realize that if we had demon slayers back then, there is a possibility they could exist on neighboring islands and countries!”

His babbling continued on as Kagome flushed, pleased with the find immensely. There was no note this time, but she couldn’t find it in herself to be disappointed at all. The scroll was enough to harbor the deepest sense of happiness that she wouldn’t have to fight as hard or even prove with other literature that Slayers existed in Feudal Japan - it was in the discovery of the scroll itself. The only tedious thing was to transcribe it in the latest characters, as well as in other languages so other scholars could weigh in... That was the only issue she had with this piece of history. The fact that she couldn’t outright say she’d been there and knew exactly how everything worked. It drove her nutty, especially when they got it wrong. Trying to coax people back to the correct version of the history without sounding like a nut case was more difficult than it sounded. 

Kagome carefully rolled the scroll back up, and ran the gloved tips of her fingers over the scythe.

“I have to leave this afternoon for the charity luncheon you insisted I go to, to thank our nifty benefactor for all these cool extras.” She said, interrupting Sosuke’s happy tirade. He paused long enough to acknowledge her, and nodded.

“Yes, yes of course dear girl. Make us proud!” He puffed, giving her a hefty pat on the shoulder and a wink as he rumbled out of her office, still blathering about new discoveries to himself. Kagome sighed. Another stupid event with the off-chance she was about to be felt up by old men with money. 

*

Rather than drive herself, she had a car taking her to the small private event. Lucky for her, it was technically a work write off, so she would be including it in expenses for the museum to pay her back on. She managed to clear most of the dirt off of her skirt, and shook out her blouse before heading out, but still couldn’t help the flutter of nerves she always felt around people from high society. The bandage still on her wrist felt like a loudspeaker on her arm, identifying her ads an individual to ask questions and have conversation which she honestly was in no mood to accomodate. The car stopped at a popular lunch spot known for its flashy entrees and delicious appetizers, which had rolled out a red carpet and had a sign out front alerting its every day patrons that it was closed save for those attending the small, early dinner of sorts versus a gala. Everyone was dressed formally, but the mood was more formal. She hated rubbing shoulders with stuck up people, but here she was. Blessedly the decor seemed to take her mind off the people. Inside, the room was light and airy, letting the natural orange of the dusk color it’s white decor. Hanging succulents, vases of sunflowers and the like were placed all over the room alongside the food tables. Then entire room seemed to look like one big greenhouse, filled and warm with bright highlights. Kagome was charmed, enjoying the rooms when she was approached by a very familiar, very small man. 

“Miss Kagome, I was directed to let you know you are a welcome guest, and that our employer sends his regrets. He bids you enjoy yourself at the dinner, and has a gift before you leave.” 

Kagome’s mouth tightened, wanting to call out the rudeness of this jackass for wasting her time, but deja vu snapped at her attention first. 

“Excuse me... I know you from somewhere..?” She peered at him and it struck her. “Aren’t you the librarian at the Library of Souls?”

The little man sputtered for a moment before composing himself.

“Er herm. Why yes, I am. The owner of the building is the benefactor. He has a deep love for history, as reflected in the things he collects.” 

Kagome nodded absently, accepting a glass of champagne offered by the staff.

“So would it be possible to put in a request to the owner of the building a pass to come back to the library?”

The little man was flustered again, but nodded and said he would put in a word to the owner before quickly bowing away. Kagome smirked after him, champagne clutched in her hand as she watched him practically run away and almost didn’t catch the screech startled out of her when a familiar, handsome face ducked before her. Champagne splashed Shoma’s black silk shirt and over his chest as she tried to temper her surprise. Those beautiful hazel eyes glanced over her, his angled face splitting into a happy smile. He didn’t seem bothered by the sudden champagne shower, rather grinning devilishly at her. It looked as though even soaked in alcohol, the silk of the shirt still blended well with the smooth burgundy of his suit. 

“I take it you’re surprised to see me?” 

Kagome turned briefly after she downed the rest of the champagne in her flute and set it aside on a random table before facing her humiliation.

“Shoma! What are you doing here?” 

His brow raised. 

“I believe we did have a conversation about me having wealth and enough of it to take up writing as a hobby. I received an invite and here I am.” 

Kagome swallowed. 

“Of course.. I guess.. You’re right, I’m just a touch surprised.”

“The real question is what brings you to such an event? I thought you were more the kind to be buried knee deep in dirt.” His eyes darted down over her, head tilting to one side as his mischievous grin split wider seeing the small patch of dust still left on the knee of her skirt. She frowned and elbowed him gracefully with her uninjured arm as she managed to beckon for a new glass of liquid courage. He laughed and grabbed them both a fresh flute, handing hers to her delicately.

“I meant no offense. This just does not seem like your cup of tea.” 

“It’s really not.” She admitted slowly, finger playing along the rim of the glass. “But I was supposed to meet our museum’s larger benefactor to thank him for his generous contributions. It looks like I’ve been stood up.”

“Shall we be the one to spirit you away then?” 

She glanced around, noticing the whispers and stares they were beginning to accrue, pointed gazes at the bandage she had arguably sized much smaller than she should have for the wound it covered. Anxiety bubbled in her stomach.

“I wouldn’t argue with a kidnapping.” She answered as he offered an arm. She accepted graciously and they walked for the outer patio where there weren’t nearly as many prying eyes. Finding a seat at one of the many concrete tables, they sat for a long quiet moment as she fidgeted with the glass. Her fingers on the rim made the crystal sing before she paused and looked up at his appraising face. This conversation was not one she wanted to even think about, but it had to be had until she made a firm decision.

“Listen... About a couple days ago..” 

Shoma sighed heavily.

“Must I say this a dozen times? We do not blame you for -” 

“Stop. You aren’t listening.” Kagome halted him, holding her hand up in annoyance. “It had nothing to do with calling you another’s name. You should be flattered I thought of him while kissing you first of all. It has more to do with..” She paused, frustrated. “With Danske. And my involvement with him.”

He paused, now watching her with carefully veiled emotion.

“It isn’t fair to him, being so.. Close with you when I haven’t stopped our relationship. To be honest, I’m so confused about some of these things... Especially this irrational surge of feelings I keep getting for  _ you. _ ”

He was still and silent and it was unnerving. 

“It’s not that I never want to see you. It isn’t that at all, but more...” She struggled. 

“You respect his time and feelings.” He interjected. She nodded. 

“Exactly.” She sighed, relieved he appeared to understand her dilemma. His eyes heated and he looked away. “If I understood exactly what I wanted, it would be easier to make these decisions. I just.. dunno what I want right now.”

Even he seemed at a loss for how to continue the conversation. It wasn’t that it was awkward, but she could feel a thrum of disappointment between them. The question as to whether or not she was making the right decision was haunting her harshly, even as they both rose noiselessly and walked back into the large receiving room, Shoma loosely guiding her as he introduced her to some other benefactors and trade workers that could be of use to her where she was. She glad-handed and passed out business cards she’d pocketed beforehand just in case she came across interesting people, and was glad she’d done so. 

Before long, the short old man clambered up to her.

“Miss Higurashi. The owner of the library asked me to give you this.” He handed her a small, gold plated card. “Keep this with you, it will grant you entrance to the library any time you wished it. Please come back to the library in a week’s time - The book of paintings was mentioned by Mr. Shoma, and a replica is being made as a gift at your pleasure.” There was a pointed, irritated look at Shoma, Kagome noticed and tried not to laugh about.

“Please let your employer know I’m delighted, and would very much like to maybe take time to meet him when he isn’t busy.”

“I’ll pass along the word.” The short old man’s face pinched with sarcasm as he bowed at the waist and inched backwards. 

She turned gracefully on one heel and gave Shoma an apologetic smile.

“While this has been fun, it’s starting to get a bit late. I think I’ll be calling a cab to head home.”

Shoma shook his head.

“Save your money. Allow me to escort you home.” He insisted softly, holding his hand out in an almost heroic gesture. It both annoyed and charmed her. She raised a brow at him, folding her arms across her chest.

“If I didn’t like your ride so much, I’d decline.” She teased. He smirked at her, gesturing towards the door. They were seated comfortably, riding in silence as they sped off in the direction of her apartment when he broke the silence finally.

“Assuming you are still conflicted... How does one sway you to their side...?” He asked softly, watching the darkened sky as rain began to drizzle outside. Kagome couldn’t help but stare for a long moment. He was so persistent in the softest way. Seated in the farthest corner of the car away from her, she sat opposite of him with her hands fidgeting as she tried to muster an answer to such a straightforward question. Silently, she thanked the gods that he wasn’t looking at her. She wasn’t sure she could say no to the intensity that came with his presence. In this time, she had never quite met another soul like Shoma’s. That wasn’t to say that she’d never met someone with old wisdom, but someone that was such a strong mixture of things she only remembered back in the old days had her on the ropes.

It dawned on her at some point since all of this had begun that one of the few reasons she still wanted to explore her relationship with Danske was the security that could come with it. No man was a promise of stability, but at least he navigated the archaeological world with ease and experience that she could always find exciting. She knew next to nothing about Shoma, and had realized she really didn’t know what he wrote about either. It wasn’t that she wasn’t interested... It was more her original assumption of his character. She was guessing that he was a playboy. Someone who would play with her, tear her apart with all the charm and money he had, then discard her when he became bored. She’d seen it happen to friends, and this was not something she wanted for herself. Shoma seemed like he would be fun for a little while... then he’d burn his interest out and move on. Logically, Danske was a better option in the way of end games - she could see sharing their mutual love of history for the rest of their lives and growing fonder with distance. It didn’t stop the other side of her argument that she was wasting Danske’s time if she wasn’t dedicated to a relationship with him, but..

Shoma’s passion...

Those heated eyes flashed with the passing streetlights as they fell on her again, making her skin warm and chill at the same time.

“I can’t answer that, Shoma.” She answered softly. “It would be a shame to see you changed over a fickle woman’s opinion. I don’t think it wise to give that kind of power to anyone.”

The car pulled to a soft stop, and Kagome checked her phone, seeing she’d missed yet another text from Danske. Sighing she looked up and gave Shoma a gentle smile. 

“Thank you for bringing me home. I appreciate it. I’ll see you around?” She asked. Shoma looked away but nodded with a soft hum. 

She gracefully exited with the help of the chauffeur, who nodded and wished her a lovely evening. Making her way up to her apartment, she fumbled with her keys for a bit and when the door was closed, she went to the living room to flip the standing lamp in the corner on. She sat heavily as she stared at the message to consider how to respond to Danske finally. 

Danske: _ please talk to me. I know you’re upset about how things went at the dig site, and the bar thing.. But I need to talk to you about that guy you’ve been hanging out with. Just talk to me please.  _

Tears gathered at the corner of her eyes in frustration as she stared at the screen. Why was this decision so goddamned hard to make? Why couldn’t she just make up her fucking mind?

_ Because the last time you decided,  _ the darker side of her reminded her,  _ you regretted your decision and the wasted potential of what could have been kills us. _

“Dammit!” She shouted, standing and twisting as she flung her phone into the cushions of her couch. 

~*~

Sesshoumaru dismissed his driver, standing with clenched fists in front of her apartment building. Kagome’s indecision was all over the cab of his car, and he fought with it himself. A light flicked on in what he assumed was her apartment. Leaping into the air, he cleared the first two floors of the apartment complex as he vaulted over the bar of a stairwell, stopping at the apartment where her scent was strongest. The rain had soaked through his silken shirt, all but ruining it. He’d left the expensive jacket in his car, and pulled the short braid out of his dark hair, standing at the door of her apartment with every muscle strained and on edge. 

Perhaps he was pushing too hard? To soon? 

No. 

He’d waited lifetimes wishing to find her, remembering bits and pieces of their collective past and taking frustrations out on the women that came after her. Now she was here. In front of him. She couldn’t even bare to tell him no outright, even as another man before her competing with other humans. He wasn’t about to lose her to a commonplace whelp that had no true knowledge of her, who she was, what she had accomplished in the short years she’d spent alive on the earth. Even so, with his resolve bolstered, he found the hand hovering over her door in hesitation. He was being ridiculous. Then he scented her tears, and heard her swearing. His hand moved, and knocked loudly.

He managed to school his expression as she swore even more loudly as she shuffled over to the door and yanked it open. Her own visage was teary and flushed, the anger on it draining quickly when she saw him standing in the doorway. 

“Shoma? Whats wrong? Did I leave something in the car?”

How deeply he desired to hear his true name rolling off that reddened bottom lip she had been worrying. There were moments where he wrestled with the possibility of this being too soon, too much for her, and the beast in him silenced the argument with one rationalization.

_ She set no tangible boundary. There is nothing to destroy when she doesn’t even know where she stands or where he stands. Advantage - Sesshoumaru. _ __

His mouth dropped open to say something, ask her to invite him in, ask if she was okay... 

His body moved of it’s own accord and wrapped his left arm around her waist as his left tilted her head up to meet his mouth, slanting over her lips. Greed had him swallowing the soft moan she made. Her body was stiff in the first bare moments spent in his arms, hands curled and pressing to push at him, but in seconds she softened. It was muscle memory - like she knew where her body would fit when it pressed against his chest and hips. He broke their kiss to groan her name and kicked the door shut behind them before walking her towards the couch across the room. Her apartment was so spacious, yet there was next to nothing in it. Hardwood floors, the couch far behind her, a television mounted to the wall and a small bookshelf of dark wood beneath it. It was empty in this place, and his heart ached for her. This was not the full woman he’d met in the past. He desired to fill the empty spaces with memories as he gripped her hips. 

“Tell me you don’t want this.” He rumbled against her mouth. “Tell me to leave. Draw the line.” 

She whimpered, and more tears fell down her cheeks.

“I..” She searched his face, both hands gripping his face. “Don’t make me. I can’t.” 

Her admission gave him a flare of hope, bright and hot.

“Gods..”

He wanted to hoist her up onto his hips, have her legs wrap around him but that damned pencil skirt stopped him. She was still in her heels, her blouse... Even her hair was still in a beautiful roll of curls. He turned her abruptly around to face the couch, letting her shins hit the front gently before he pressed his hands against the front of her hips. She gasped at the sensation, at the feel of his hands untucking the flowing white blouse from the skirt it was tucked in. The caress of his fingers came around to the back of her skirt. He tugged at the shirt, and she never stopped him as it slipped in a whisper of fabric over her torso and arms. The crawl of his fingers over her arms was only paused when she hissed as the pads of his fingers brushed the still tender talon marks from her heroic efforts at the dig site. Skirting it, he planted his mouth on her shoulder in a slow kiss, nipping at the skin. Her fingers came back and sank into his hair as her breathing came in soft pants, coaxing him onward as his hands reveled in the softness of the skin at her side. 

Sesshoumaru let his teeth sink into the softness of her shoulder and the sound she made was music as he unzipped her skirt and let it fall. With a hard bite, he released her and took a few steps back to admire his uncovered prize. Kagome turned, every bit as confident as she sounded on the phone the night he’d stroked himself to completion, and his cock hardened with her flashing eyes. The rest of her was clad unexpectedly in black lace. The cups pushed her modest cleavage upwards, and her panties had a matching belt and garters holding up sensible black stalkings that snugged against her flesh in the most delicious ways. He could feel his control slipping. At some point, he knew if she didn’t stop him, he would not be able to fuck her and keep a concealment spell. She was wresting every ounce of his self-discipline from years of practice and tempering and tearing it apart like tissue paper.. Just standing there in lingerie and heels. Her kiss swollen lips, newly tousled curls... She would be the death of him. 

“I say it again. Tell me to stop. Tell me to go to hell, and I shall go.” He said softly, dangerously low as his fingers began undoing the buttons on his soaked black silk shirt. It peeled away from his chest and her breath caught, then down his arms and his eyes fluttered closed at the scent flooding her front room. Her gaze was as hungry as he felt, and she when she began stalking towards him, closing the distance, he was lost.

“Fuck me before I change my mind...” Her answer was almost lost, it was said so faintly. Sesshoumaru snarled, and she gasped. His hand on her throat was firm and gentle as he guided her back to the couch, then spun her back around. One hand grasped the fullness of her hair and pulled her head back hard, the other guiding her by the waist. His teeth nipped at her earlobe before he spoke in a low, barely tempered tone. 

“We play by my rules. You are not to turn around. Are you on a contraceptive?”

“No.”

He chuckled. 

“Then we will ensure you receive it tomorrow to use at your leisure.”

One of his knees pressed the back of hers so she would kneel on the couch for him. Sesshoumaru could hear her heart thundering and pressed a short kiss into the back of her neck. 

“Please..” She whispered. 

“You may refer to me as Sir.” He growled, affectionately licking at her ear. Once he had her kneeling on the couch, thighs spread for him, he snapped one of her belts against her thigh and she started. “Do you understand, little one?”

“Yes.”

Sesshoumaru pulled at her hair, hauling her head back towards him until he was cheek to cheek with her.

“Yes..?”

He saw her eyes widen a fraction, but then melt.

“Yes... Sir...” Her answer was hesitant. His reward for her obedience, however, was swift. He remembered every sweet spot she had revealed in their brief time together, including the most potent bundle of nerves she had. Calloused finger pads drew a swift line down her belly, over her garter belt and into her panties to cup her sex. She cooed, and then cried out when his middle and index finger found the button to her pleasure. He pressed and rolled the swollen nub and bit back into her shoulder as she squirmed against him, mewling and pleading for so much more. Sesshoumaru wanted to give it to her. 

Wanted to plunge ahead, give her what she was clearly aching for, what they both were. But alas - he was not about to sully this being unrestrained. He pressed her forward, bending so her arms were braced against the back of her couch. Once she was prone, he dragged his sharpened nails against skin of the back of her thighs drawing another cry from her. He brought one hand back and slapped it harshly against the firm cheek of her ass. Her arousal flared as she groaned low for him, and he enjoyed repeating the process once, then again before kneeling behind her. The black scraps of fabric hiding her sex from him were moved to the side with agonizing slowness.

The damp folds glistened in the low light of her lamp, and he inhaled the sweet scent of her dripping sex. That his claws had begun to revert was a warning his other features may be revealed, and he slapped her reddened ass-cheek once more before warning her not to move, or look up. He rose and turned towards her lamp, shutting the light off and dousing the room in the cool light of the night. Rain was pummeling the balcony outside, and as Sesshoumaru turned, he caught a glimpse of himself in a small mirror on the wall. Nothing was hidden anymore. He tied his hair back before returning to kneel behind her. He pulled her panties roughly aside with one hand, steadying her hip with the other, and waited no longer.

His tongue plunged into her wetness, laving her from canal to clit and repeating the process until she was bucking back into his face, pleading with him to not stop. He shifted only once, managing to position himself under her so his chin dug into her clit as his tongue delved deep into her channel in a tormenting rhythm that had her cries dying in her throat. Every muscle in her body was tight with anticipation, he could feel the trembling of her entirety, and when she made the soft noise deep in her chest he recognized, he pulled away from her entrance and slid out from under her. 

She was perfectly primed, wetness dripping down the insides of her thighs that he knew would assist his entry. There was no protest, only a muffled groan of disappointment as she stood in trembling anticipation, still braced against her muted gray couch. He appraised her backside as he stepped out of his shoes, kicking them into her peripheral. He could see her body stiffen when the soft tinkling of his belt rang out into the room as he removed it, her legs shifting from side to side. Kagome was a sight to behold in her own naked right. To see her beautiful thighs, slickened with want and her calves straining as she stood bent over in those heels... He had been blessed beyond reason. 

“If only you could see as I see.” He rumbled. His belt hissed through his belt loops and he bunched the belt on itself. “You have beauty in you, wild untapped power. Will you stop me yet?”

He despised the last five words off his lips, but knew if he didn’t give her every opportunity to redact her decision, she would hate him. As fun as she was angry, there were harsher penalties in this world for ignoring what someone asked for. His quiet padding was a solid note on her floor even as the rain beat in staccato notes against the building. The shadow of his hand over her precious skin hovered for a long moment before it made contact with the skin of her hip. She was on the verge of tears, he could smell it, but there was no indication she wanted him to stop. Leaning over her form, pressing the line of their bodies together and feeling the heat spark between them as the pure energy of her priesthood began snapping back at him for daring to touch her. 

His mouth was hovering beside her ear, nipping the shell delicately.

“Are you certain this is what you want...?”

Her anger flared.

“Quit asking me!” She raged. “ Do you  _ want _ me to throw you out? I asked you to fuck me, not make nice!” 

The belt he held in his other hand landed with a sharp snap on her ass in retaliation as she turned her head to look back.

“I said to call me Sir. And your little outburst will cost you; As I recall, I instructed you not to look at me or move.”

Her growl of frustration was met with another sharp crack of his belt on her buttocks, and she rocked back into his hips with a moan. That one insistent press nearly rolled his eyes back into his head. His pants were off along with socks and he was nude behind her, cock pressing against her backside and he wrapped the flat of the belt around her throat, pinching the ends and pulling her back. Sesshoumaru pressed his lips softly to the dip between her shoulders at the base of her spine.

“Now. Ask politely and perhaps your request will be granted.” He teased, nipping the skin delicately before pressing their hips together. She gasped.

“Please..” 

“Please what?” 

“Sir, please..”

“Please is awfully polite, but I do not know what you want. Tell me again?” He smiled against her cheek.

“Please... fuck me, Sir..” 

“Ah. Yes. Of course.” He slid one hand over her hip and used it to align his cock with her soaking entrance as the other held his belt in place, keeping her arched artfully before him. Sesshoumaru’s face crumbled into a soundless snarl at the swift and soaking impalement of his cock. Where it was wet enough for him to slide in, it was tighter than he could have imagined. She was practically virgin tight, and the shallowed gasp she loosed told him she’d never been built up this way. He fought the animalistic urge to pound into her wetness. The fluttering had him not even attempting to hide who he was anymore in the secret darkness of the night.

“Shall you have more?” He asked through gritted teeth.

“Yes!” She cried out, clearly not remembering his rules. He smirked and jigged the belt around her neck.

“Yes..?”

Her inner walls clenched hard around him.

“Yes, Sir!” 

He pulled nearly out, and thrust hard back in, jarring her forward, then beginning a swift motion that rolled into waves of thrusts powerful and unrelenting. One hand managed the belt around her throat, keeping her head pulled back without outright choking her and the other steadied her hips as he thrusts forward. Tears were beginning to roll down her cheeks and she had gone from moaning to making unintelligible noises and mewls that came to a crescendo when he hit a particularly sensitive point inside of her. 

Time lost meaning, and as when her knees began to buckle, he threw his belt to the darkness to pick her up still impaled on his cock and spinning them both so he could sit on her couch. Shifting her, he pulled both of her arms back behind her and gripping them tightly as his other hand steadied her hips, beginning the rhythm anew, slower and deeper from this position. Her knees had found better purchase as they spread wider with each thrust, toes curling with his depth. With the wetness soaking his thighs, he was sure she’d had at least one orgasm that made her this juicy. 

“I need you to cum for me again, Kagome.” He growled into her skin. “All over this cock.”

She groaned, head lawling back and bathing him in her sweat soaked hair. One particularly hard thrust had her clenching over him, and when he bit and pulled the skin at the back of her neck, she nearly screamed. 

“Sweet Kagome...” He groaned. “Cum now.”

*

It was all Kagome could do not to wail as he plunged into her. His words alone, the smoothness of his baritone, his rough handling all factored into her body’s responsiveness. She’d been wet before, felt the after effects of a clitoral orgasm wash down her thighs, but this was unbelievable. How he was doing this, how he knew every spot to hit. The pleasure alone was so intense there were moments she saw spots in her vision, and the last few thrusts were driving her out of her mind. 

“I need you to cum for me again, Kagome. All over this cock...” He rasped against the skin of her back. She tried to nod, tried to do anything as he drove up into her pussy from behind but her words were stolen when he bit a mouthful of her flesh a tugged. She screamed, reaching back and pulling what she could reach of his hair. 

“Sweet Kagome... Cum now...” 

She didn’t obey - her body did. The scream of pleasure caught in her throat as her body convulsed and when his cock pulled from her tight channel, something happened that she’d never felt in her life; a warm gush sprayed over her rug and this time she did howl for him. Legs shaking, she swore repeatedly and loudly as he plunged back into her cunt. Never in Kagome’s life did she ever think she would be privy to this kind of debauchery.

“Fuck!” He roared, one more hard thrust and she felt the hot spill of his release. She finally dropped against his slick chest, thighs wide over either side of his with his cock still twitching inside of her. He had since released her wrists, and they stayed still for a long few moments, Kagome trying to catch her breath as the afterglow of rough sex washed over her. Giddiness hit her and she laughed breathlessly on his lap.

“Am I allowed to look at you now, Sir?” Her tone was mocking. She yelped as he popped her off his lap so she could turn to face him. His eyes were clenched shut and his hands now firm on her hips still. His dark hair was sweat riddled, skin glistening, and between her shaking thighs, he was the most beautiful being she’d ever seen. When he opened his eyes they appraised her lovingly, and one hand came away from her hip to brush the hair away from her cheek, palming it.

“Kiss me.” He demanded quietly. She eagerly acquiesced, meeting his passion with plenty of her own. Her nipples hardened against his chest, and while her body was nearly numb with his handling, she could feel the wetness of her need return in a hot throb that thrummed over her entire body.

“Direct me to your bathroom.” He whispered against her lips. He picked her up, plucking at the belts, shoes, and bra as they walked leaving a trail of clothing behind them before stepping into the tub after the water was warmed. He kissed his way back up her body in the warmth of the water and turned her away so her back was to his chest. They spent a good while in the shower after he’d stripped her of lingerie, fingers delicately stroking patterns along her skin until she gave in to her desire for another row, this round far more gentle and controlled than the last. There was no silly game, and the look of sheer concentration written over his face had her shivering under him with jelly knees in no time. Once they were actually rinsed and clean, she stepped out of her shower and offered him a towel, trying not to stare at his physique. He noticed her, and when she made it from his pectorals up to his eyes, he flashed her another charming grin that made her blush. Hard to believe he could still make her cheeks redden despite the fact he practically made her call him daddy for the last hour. 

She went to her bedroom and slipped on a comfortable lavender silk sleeping robe, wrapping her hair in a towel before coming out to the living room with another towel to clean up the moisture still on the hardwood. She was returning from her bedroom after placing the towel with her dirty laundry, scrubbing her hair with her towel to dry it when Shoma padded out of the bathroom. The guest towel was wrapped low around his hips. She offered the towel she was using for her hair to him, and he took it with a soft thanks. 

“So... Now...” She started when a knock at her door made her jump. Frowning at the door, she looked back at Shoma, who’s eyes narrowed at the door. She turned back towards the door and unlocked it, opening it.

There, at her doorstep, stood Danske.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy holidays darlings! Reviews are my gifts, and I'm grateful for each and every one, mis_interpret, bandcandygiles, Lynn_Nexus, MoniqueFrost, mim, and milomai19! Constructive criticism is always welcome, and as always, Thank you for reading!


	11. UnSportsman-Like Conduct

Satisfaction radiated out of every pore of his being as he stepped out of her bathroom. The way she looked at him was everything he could have asked for, and yet... There was a piece of him didn’t settle well with her calling someone else’s name, even for the sake of his safety. Revealing himself to her was something he’d been shoveling around for the last few minutes, if not days worth of time. As an investor, having her sacred expertise and skill set was something they could use on future dig sites and was part of the arguments he was hosting with himself. It was also to be wondered if she really would benefit from a piece of the past coming to wreck her life; though he was less inclined to believe that she wouldn’t be upset by this after such a vigorous round fucking... So as he rounded the corner of her bathroom to pad into her living room and tell her the truth about himself, every single one of them... Both of them were surprised at the sound of a knock on the door.   
The scents were muddled and mired in sex and steam, and there was no possible way to know for him who stood beyond the door until Kagome opened it. He fought a frustrated growl. Milk Toast Danske’s frightened body filled her doorway as she grasped the door, confusion permeating the air now.  
“Dan? What..? Are you doing..?”  
He could see Danske’s face go from frightened to angry, then a mixture of both when his eyes fell on Sesshoumaru.  
“What the hell is he doing in your apartment, Kagome?”   
The moment he tried to push his way past Kagome, Sesshoumaru flared his aura heavily, angrily, and dropped his human camouflage so fast that Danske’s forward motion came to a jerking halt. Even Kagome seemed to falter at the door, and Sesshoumaru’s sudden desire to reveal himself came to a crashing pause. His human disguise was quickly brought back up when she spun around and blinked in confusion at him, surely trying to work out where the demonic aura had just blasted from. She shoved Danske out of the door frame and slid the door nearly shut as she began the conversation with him. He heard every last word.  
“What are you doing here?” She questioned. Clearly, she was embarrassed having been caught with another man in her apartment.  
“No. What the FUCK is he doing here?” He repeated venomously. “Why is he undressed? I’ve not even been to your apartment and we were dating!”  
He made a snorting noise and Sesshoumaru heard a flapping noise that had him edging closer to the door.  
“Fuck, at least I thought we were dating.” He voice seemed to waver.  
“I’m sorry you had to find out like this.” Kagome answered softly.  
“How long has this even been going on?” He demanded quietly. She was quiet.   
“This is the only time he’s been to my house. It’s the only time we’ve been intimate.”   
There was another pregnant pause between them, and he could see the briefest outline of Danske turning with his hands on his head.   
“Is this... Was this what had you wanting to break up with me before?”   
“No.” She said quickly. “I hadn’t even met him when we had that conversation. Please... I.. Please understand this has more to do with me being indecisive than it has to do with anything. This isn’t exactly something I’ve felt like I’ve been able to talk with you about.”  
“But Kagome! Why?! This is exactly what we should be talking about!”  
Kagome let out a surprised yelp and he palmed the handle to teach the whelp a lesson when a hard slap rang out.   
“Don’t put your hands on me!” She barked. “If I had any doubts in our relationship, this is kind of the clincher for me.”  
“But Kagome, please! I came here to tell you -”   
“No. I can’t believe you just tried to grab me!”  
“Please! He’s dangerous, Kagome, I don’t know-”  
“And you aren’t? God, Danske, I thought you were better than this. It’s the only thing that had me wondering if maybe I was wrong for wanting Shoma.”  
“Kagome! PLEASE LISTEN!” Danske shouted as Kagome was backing back into the apartment. Sesshoumaru flung the door open wide, filling the frame with his body as he glowered at the whelp. Danske still bore the features of a wolf backed into a corner. Frightened, frustrated, but ready to attack as Kagome retreated to her apartment.  
“We’re done, Danske. I’m sorry to have wasted your time. Don’t call me again.” Her tone was saddened, bitter as she stepped back into the apartment. She seemed shaken as the door closed with Danske still screaming after her to listen to his warnings. Sesshoumaru’s frustration was on par with hers as she brushed past him to the couch, where she sat heavily. He could smell the tears as they formed and went to sit beside her. She flinched when he reached out, and he pulled his hands back.   
While he could easily say he had no regrets being with her, there was no way to tell if she felt the same.   
“I think.. Maybe you should go for a bit, Shoma.” She finally said into the silence of the room. He frowned.   
“Are you certain you feel safe enough to be left with him there?”   
She gave a chuckled sardonically.   
“You aren’t worried about having to face him..?”   
Sesshomaru snorted.   
“There are far worse things in this world than having to face an angry ex. It is not the first time I’ve had to so such a thing.”  
Kagome’s brow raising in suspicion made him laugh further.   
“Aniah’s ex-girlfriend. She was a fighter. Not just any fighter, but a well paid boxer. She threatened to beat me if I continued to pursue Aniah romantically, and when that did not work, attempted to beat herself and frame me as her abuser. That was a mite harder to explain. Do keep this story to yourself. I helped her move from Dubai to Japan so she would never have to share the same air with that woman again. It is not a story she enjoys telling, and prefers to keep it to herself.”  
Kagome nodded absently, biting her lip.   
“I shall take my leave then. Call if you need me. Do not..” Sesshoumaru leaned down over her and pressed his lips into her forehead. “Attempt to be brave if something happens. Call.”  
Sesshoumaru picked up his pants and belted them in place, forgoing the ruined silk shirt. Sliding on his shoes, he gave her one last kiss on the cheek before taking his leave. Outside the apartment was still a strong scent of the Whelp, but he was nowhere in sight. Sesshoumaru dropped any of his human pretenses and headed home a more traditional way for himself. Transforming into an orb of light, Sesshoumaru flew home. 

~*~

Kagome’s knees un-tucked from under her as she pulled them up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them tightly. The ugliest feelings pouring from her chest right now were overwhelming. Shoma was an active participant in destroying her previous relationship in the worst way; if it had been her in his shoes, she would have done the same. 

“But Kagome! Why?! This is exactly what we should be talking about!”  
Kagome let out a surprised yelp as Danske grabbed her shoulder and shook her hard. 

He wasn’t wrong. Shoma had tried to tell her in the gentlest way possible, and she hadn’t listened.

“It may not be you; at the same time it may be over thinking the situation. The simplest answer is most likely the correct one, yes?” He paused, not waiting for her answer as he continued impassively. “The simplest answer would be to ask the question, ‘Am working too hard to be happy?’. I don’t believe one should need to try so hard in relationship they were happy in.”

It would have been better for both of them if she’d just made up her damn mind. Heartbreaking wasn’t in her nature! She could try to explain to Danske, have this high hope that maybe he would understand if she explained, but something told her after seeing the betrayal in his eyes that he wouldn’t even if she apologized a million times. Her heart ached. Causing pain was not something she’d meant to do, and it happened anyway.   
“It isn’t your fault.” She whispered brokenly to herself. “You tried to slow the train down. This train wreck was not. Your. Fault.”  
She said it a couple more times, hoping it would sink in so as to ebb her sadness. Her heart clenched hard and she swallowed her misery before she was so engulfed she forgot the angry spark of her holy power. It was what Danske was trying to say before she’d sent him off that was lingering. She hadn’t known Shoma all that long, and he’d presented as a gentleman even when they were alone. But that was it - she had known Danske for much longer than she had Shoma, and she wasn’t sure how to proceed with his warnings. Whatever he knew was before this evening, and he’d been coming to tell her tonight before Shoma had shown up and distracted her from her response. Her stomach bottomed out. What... What if Shoma knew what Danske was going to tell her and had stopped the information by distracting her? Kagome swallowed, feeling a little foolish for a myriad of reasons. If she was wrong, she felt like she was being paranoid for no reason and giving in to someone else’s manipulation, and she wasn’t about to let another person control her emotionally. But if he was right... If there was something dangerous about Shoma, she was inviting danger to literally sleep in her bed like a ignoramus.  
Shoma had money. That she knew for sure without doubt. The gala alone had been a sign, but plane tickets from Dubai to Japan were stupidly expensive. Shoma sounded like he had brought Aniah out on a whim. Kagome didn’t like the bitter pang that came with jealousy, and had no qualms with people living they way they wanted; but she knew herself well. Sharing was just not her taste, and would probably never be on her menu. The idea that Shoma, if it wasn’t a whim and Aniah was still attached in a physical or emotional way, would be seeing others while he was with her was unacceptable and a deal breaker. The stupid feeling was returning - she felt like a fool, giving in to Shoma’s advances.   
She hadn’t been bullied, hadn’t been badgered, and had been given multiple outs. He’d asked her multiple times if she wanted to stop, if she wanted him to leave. It was like he knew she’d be having this conversation with herself, and had wanted to leave no room for regret. What an irresponsible, horny teen she had acted like. There was just so much to process. So much to unpack. She shifted from the couch, slipping off so she could lock her front door. She headed for bed, curling into the clean sheets and fluffy comforter like it was her last line of defense. Thank god she didn’t sully her bed. Breathing in the cotton scent, the last thing that haunted her tired mind was the sudden flood of demonic energy that had filled the room.   
Maybe Danske was right....

*

Nightmares flooded her dreams. She was running from miasma, barely slipping through the steel fingered clutches of an unknown demon. They invaded her body, the darkest parts of her mind in an angry cloud that she choked on, screaming for help that didn’t come because there was nobody to call on in this era. Pale, cold hands wrapped around her throat and squeezed, choking the life out of her as she tried to call out for help. Her vision clouded, the air was leaving her in a dark wisp of miasma that felt like someone was shoving their hand down her throat and ripping her lungs from her chest.   
Kagome screamed, tumbling out of bed wrapped in her comforter and flailing to get the stifling layer off. She stood, panting in rapidly cooling sweat as she looked shakily around her dark room. Her hand trembled as she reached for the sheet covered mattress and she inched towards it to sit down and scrubbed at her face with her hands. This feeling. These darknesses she kept coming upon were driving her mad. All of them seemed to be harsh remnants of the past. For the longest time, Kagome had been prepared to handle coming upon a demonic presence during her work; it wasn’t impossible that some of the old artifacts she handled would have come across demonic hands, and leave a lasting impression.   
Since her brush with the demonic at the dig site castle, Kagome had been too busy to assess the nature of the dreams she’d been having. This wasn’t the first time in the last few weeks she’d woken in cold sweat. Perhaps it was that proximity surge of demonic energy last night..?  
Kagome shook her head, running a hand through her sleep tangled hair. It brought back the first thing that kept her from sleep - Danske’s warnings about Shoma. She pulled herself up and ambled to the bathroom to begin getting ready for her day, stomach still roiling with last night’s debacle. She splashed cold water on her face, hoping that maybe that would help wash away the unpleasantness of her dreams. Staring at her reflection, she could tell clearly she hadn’t slept much, and she poked at the reflection’s nose with a sigh.  
“You, ma’am, need some coffee and something with sugar in it for breakfast.”  
The tired looking Kagome nodded alongside of her. Today was going to have to be a casual wear day. There were aches in her thighs she’d never had, and even her lady bits had a touch of pain. It wasn’t anything worse than a mild case of cramps, but it was a reminder of all the events that had transpired. She started the hot water, completely intent on ensuring she was going to wash and relax when an unexpected knock at the door sounded. These unexpected visitors would be the death of her.  
Eyes clenched, she turned the water off and donned her sleeping robe again, walking for the door and unlocking the handle before opening the door and peering out through the crack she had opened. The sweet smell of coffee wafted through the crevice, and Shoma’s broad shoulders and back filled what she could see. She opened the chain and stared for a long quiet moment, blinking tiredly as he turned, returning her stare.  
“I promised a contraceptive; I figured coffee alongside it couldn’t hurt.” He offered the warm cup in his right hand stretching forward alongside of two small bags. She didn’t take anything, instead turning and motioning for him to come inside. He followed her into the apartment, letting her close and lock the door behind him. She never considered how short her lavender sleep robe was until he noticed his eyes lingering on the exposed skin of her thighs, and she wished she could pull it down a little further. Perhaps she should have reconsidered letting him into her apartment before she was dressed. Pointing to the kitchen, she let him know that if he wanted a cup, they were in the cupboards beside the stove in her modest kitchen before excusing herself to put some jammy pants on. It took her a minute to find the right ones, but she finally slipped on a pair of cozy matching lavender pants and slunk back out to the kitchen where Shoma stood with his paper coffee cup in hand, looking absolutely delightful as he inhaled the scent like perfume before taking a measured sip. His eyes slid open, then to the side to see her.  
“Please, join me. I was not sure how you took your coffee, but I added cream and vanilla to it.”  
Kagome fought the smile that wanted to rise. For some reason she wanted to be upset with him. It wasn’t fair to blame him for her cheating. It took two to waltz to this dance, after all, didn’t it? She came to the kitchen and kept her distance. Today, Shoma’s pale arms were painfully stark against a navy blue tee and a pair of smart tan slacks. It was tucked messily into the beltline, where a dark brown belt with a small gold buckle rested comfortably. His arms looked huge in such a shirt, and his chest filled it nicely. There was a whisper of suggestion that he was built, and it was both arousing and irritating. His hair was tied back and braided to one side, and the delicate framing of his face with the remaining hairs made his angular artfulness that much more pleasant to look upon.   
She slowly made her way towards him, digging through the bags he’d brought. One contained two warm, crispy, red bean paste filled buns, and the other contained a small package that was clearly a single dose contraceptive. Steam rolled from the cup on the counter he’d placed on the opposite side, and she popped the plastic lid off in favor of sipping directly from the cup. The taste hit her tongue in a warm, rich punch of bitter bean and sweet flavors that had her eyes sliding closed. This is exactly.. EXACTLY what she needed. She dug for the bean bun and took a satisfying crunch out before washing it down with the coffee, making delighted noises unintentionally despite her company. It wasn’t until that last bite was finished and she was huddled over her coffee that she noticed his amused expression and her cheeks puffed as she harumphed.   
“Last night was a complete clusterfuck.”  
She was silent still as she sipped from the coffee cup, opting not to eye him.   
“It was not our intention for your... Interest... To find out such a thing in such a way. You have my deepest apologies, Kagome.”  
She took another sip of the chilling beverage.   
“You don’t mean it.” She responded coolly. Kagome looked at him through her lashes as she took another drink. His expression read like a painting, elegant, surprising, still so beautiful and with just the tiniest touch of mystery. It was his eyes that read like a book. He wasn’t sorry. Being caught looked like it was the cherry on his trifle. She found the other bag on the counter and opened the box, popping the pill out of its foil wrapping and tossing it into her mouth with a swig of her now lukewarm coffee.   
“What if I don’t?”   
There were some traits she took from Inuyasha and Kouga - when they were irritated, there was a tell when they were trying to hold it back. It was the lightest twitch of their lip wanting to curl into a snarl. It happened to her from time to time, and in order to temper it she would give whoever a measured smile. This did not happen - instead she let the snarl twitch over her features before smothering it with a frown.   
“I’d say we are done being intimate; At least until I learn more about you Shoma. For the most part, you sound like you didn’t actually mean for it to happen this way, but I know you aren’t actually sorry.”  
She pushed away from the counter and put the coffee down with a loud sigh, stretching her hands high above her head.  
“Now, I have to shower and get ready for work. Thank you for coffee and contraceptives, but I must ask you to vacate the premises so I can get to work on time.” She said, walking behind him and making shooing motions, pushing his hard back towards the door.   
He made protesting noises, but allowed himself to be shoved towards the door. When he was at the threshold, he grabbed the doorway and forced her to pause.   
“So how, exactly, do you intend to get to know me, Kagome?” He was looking down over his shoulder at her and she crossed her arms over her chest with a frustrated huff.  
“I don’t know, but I’ll figure it out. Just scoot!”  
Shoma laughed and released the doorframe.   
“Kagome, please. At least let me take you somewhere this week to apologize.”   
She hesitated.  
“Honestly... if I thought it would help, I would tell you to apologize to Danske. He’s kinda the one who got hurt here. But we both know that’s a horrible idea. So just.. I don’t know. Let me figure this out for a bit. I’ll text you about meeting up for beer or something soonish.”   
She slammed the door finally and locked it, fleeing for the bathroom before something else wild happened. She couldn’t take many more surprises this week.

* 

Work was slow and tedious. Because most everything was in its place, most of the work being done was checkup reports, research papers, and the occasional walk through with special tour groups requesting specialists for donors, etcetera. She was working on writing the scroll’s contents into her computer currently, and her phone vibrated on her desk for, god knows, the hundredth time. A cursory glance and she knew it was Danske texting her. The first texts rolled in while she was showering and her phone was on the counter. The rest were sprinkled through her drive, the first five hours of work, and sitting at her desk with it on vibrate for the last hour had been torture. She snatched here phone off the desk and tapped his number.  
“Finally! Please Kagome, you gotta listen to me.”  
“If that’s what it is going to take to get you to quit texting me, then spill it, Danske. Then I need you to let me focus on work. This is getting a little bit ridiculous.”   
“I promise, please Kagome. He isn’t who he says he is. Ask Aniah. I went back to the bar after that night I saw you two there, and she says he changed, called himself... Shoma? Shemora? Fuck... FUCK!” He was so frantically trying to reach the conclusion he was babbling over himself before she hung up on him. “Listen, she said he had markings on him, like tattoos or something. Called himself ageless, knew you from a long time ago. She said he was talking weird, and she was really shaken up. Please. Go talk to her. She’ll tell you he’s dangerous. She can tell you everything he said!”  
Kagome could feel her face pale. Ageless? How long...   
“First of all, Shoma is his name, so you’re probably just saying it wrong. Second, everyone has tattoos nowadays, so that doesn’t tell me anything. And not to piss you off or anything, I think I would have noticed tattoos on him last night, Danske.”   
She could hear him sputter before finally swearing away from the phone.  
“Fine. Kagome, fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. That guy is fucking dangerous. I don’t know what it is, but he isn’t who he pretends he is.”  
He hung the phone up on her and she stared at it, shocked. Danske in the entire time she’d known him had avoided swearing in front of her without apologizing. She checked her watch and wondered... Tapping out a quick text she messaged Shoma, inquiring where he was at. He let her know he was working at his home office on a few new chapters. She invited him for a specific time, to which he acquiesced and began gathering her things. She had an hour and a half to sort through some of the shit Danske had been spouting, because if she was being fooled by a demon from her past, she’d be damned if she’d let him use her to his own ends. She took the rest of the day from work as a personal day, letting her boss Sosuke know she needed to take care of a few things and would be back bright and early tomorrow.   
When Kagome arrived at the pub, they were just opening. Aniah was not behind the bar, but one of her coworkers let Kagome know she was in the back tapping new kegs, and once she was finished she would let Aniah know to come up front. Kagome sat on an empty stool in the empty bar, and quietly waited. It was about twenty minutes before the witty black waitress was popping around the corner of the swinging door with a furrowed brow, only to have her gaze fall on Kagome. Suddenly, Aniah looked like she didn’t want to be there anymore, but approached warily  
“What can I do for you, pretty face?” She asked with a cautious smile. Kagome swallowed.  
“I don’t want to cause any tension between you and Shoma...” She started, and Aniah visibly flinched at the name, standing back from the bar with her hands behind her back. “I know you and him have history and I would never come between friends. But I really need to now...”  
She paused, still assessing the unusually silent barkeep.   
“Danske has never really been one to lie to me about anything. I’ve known him for a few years. I’ve only known Shoma since the first time I met him at the bar. Last night... Danske tried to tell me about something that I’m not super sure is true. But he said you might know something about it.”  
Aniah swallowed hard.  
“To be honest, I don’t really know if I’m allowed to share what he said to me. He didn’t necessarily say I couldn’t. But Shoma’s a pretty private dude. Doesn’t even like it when I talk about what a talented guy he is with his podcast and writing.” She answered begrudgingly. Kagome’s brow furrowed.  
“What podcast? I know he’s a writer, but he’s never shared what he writes with me.”  
Aniah’s brow raised at her.  
“Seriously? Okay. I’m pretty sure you’ve heard it. I heard you say the fuckin’ name one night. Shoma is Mr. Velvet.”  
Kagome blinked at her in shock. 

“Between you and me, there is this new podcast I’m listening to that calls himself Mr. Velvet..” He could see she was growing embarrassed. “And on the update days, I listen in the bathtub because he just has the hottest voice. I mean, I like the sound a lot. Danske is sweet and all but this guy... Wow.”  
He blinked at her owlishly.  
“My friend Eri suggested it a few months ago, and he’s recently changed up his work to this great new piece. I mean, don’t get me wrong, the last few updates have been really boring, but his writing just does it for me. It might just be the voice..” She paused and took a long pull from her mug.   
“Oh?”  
“Shuddup. Sometimes deep voices just do it for me. Surely you have preferences!” She defended playfully, clutching her mug in both hands.   
“Are you saying I do not have a deep voice?” He pressed his fingers into his chest in a mockery of regality.   
“You do, you do, but -”   
“I do!” He interrupted, holding his hand up. “Therefore it is plausible that I could do it for you too.” 

“Oh sweet Jesus..” she mumbled, head in her hands as she leaned against the bar. “Oh my god. He’s Mr. Velvet?”  
There were similarities, sure, but there was no way... There was no fucking way...  
Aniaha shook her head.  
“God, you are thick. You’re kidding me, right?” she shook her head at Kagome again and walked a quick circle before shaking a finger at her. “Open your eyes you idiot! Listen with your ears! Yes. That guy is Velvet.”  
“You have got to be shitting me.”   
It made sense why he was so completely comfortable talking about such things. It also explained the shit-eating grin he was wearing the night she admitted to him that’s what she was listening to. Not only did Shoma have money, he was becoming an accomplished name in the podcasting world, with a baritone like that. Kagome’s face dropped into the shield of her circled arms on the bar. She’d been masturbating to his voice, pretending he was Sesshoumaru rather successfully. There was a physical bond she was forging every time she did it, and he began coming onto her, it wasn’t a wonder she gave in so easily... Even if he had set the bar for best sex of her life as high as it was now. She peeked over her arms and at Aniah.  
“God. I slept with him last night..”  
Aniah’s hands went akimbo and she shouted, “Fucking finally!”   
Kagome sat up straight and frowned at her.  
“What the hell?”  
The barmaid folded her hands under her chest.   
“I’ve been throwing him at you since the first day he made puppy eyes at you! He kept holding back when I told him you were experimenting with Danske.” She answered. Kagome gave her a deadpan glare.   
“So you’re the one that’s been meddling in my personal life. I feel like we should be better friends if you’re going to meddle like one.” Kagome’s scowl deepened  
“I’m actually more on Shoma’s side when it comes to friends. He said he knew you, and he looks at you like you’re the world and a half, and I want to see him happy.” She shot back. “I’m glad he finally took the initiative to go for what he wanted.”  
Kagome’s lips pursed... Should she ask? She knew what Shoma did now, who he really was in that sense. It was shocking, almost angering. And that was just finding out that he was the voice that inspired her wet dreams! Shouldn’t she be star struck? Over the moon to be sleeping with the man that gave her the drive to be passionate? And that was the truth of it... He exhilarated her. In the short time she’d known him, he had challenged her notion of romance and how to approach it, introduced her to resources she’d never even known existed, and rocked her notion of sex to its deepest core. Only one other had managed to come close to that... Was Sesshoumaru. Kagome’s stomach knotted as she spread her hands on the bar considering the possibility. Disbelief and doubt had clouded the entertainment that Shoma could be Mr. Velvet; even after he’d teased her about listening to smutty podcasts. But to go that one step further, and assume the smut peddler Shoma was... Sesshoumaru?  
She shook her head, and Aniah noticed.  
“There’s no way...” Kagome mumbled to herself. “He’d never....”   
She felt stupid. The names started with an S, kinda sounded similar, and there were some traits that reminded her so strongly of him. Surely it couldn’t be that farfetched to ask? Just ask. Kagome sighed. The worst that would happen is Aniah would give her a weird look and just say she’d never heard of it.   
“One more thing before I ask for something to drink. And this is going to kinda determine whether or not I ask for hard liquor.” Kagome chuckled nervously, fingers threading together on the bar as she twiddled her thumbs. “Have you ever heard the name... Sesshoumaru...?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are my inspiration - thank you, Klriley07, effinsusie mis_interpret, Sakura_the_red_panda, milomai19, Lynn_Nexus, bandcandygiles, & DaisyStPatience! Constructive Criticism is always welcome, the goal is to become a better writer; As always, thank you for reading!


	12. The Reckoning

Sesshoumaru ended the meeting early. There was nothing that needed his immediate attention, and it was drawing close to the time that Kagome had messaged him for drinks at the pub. He unbuttoned the jacket coat as he headed from his at home office space while his manservant lead the group of associates from the building to their cars, and changed slowly into much more casual clothes. The full length mirror showed the entirety of his body as he peeled away the suit he’d worn. His eyes were still burnished gold, the marks on his body stark against the paleness of his face. It was his natural state, and what felt right. There was no tight squeeze of magical power choking out instinct.

Just the fierceness of his claws and fangs, the raw unfiltered flow of demonic energy thrumming through his veins. He pulled his long silver hair over his shoulder, braiding the thick band slowly as he gazed upon his form with a heavy sigh. Tonight he needed to tell her, before it got to her from someone else. The Whelp had already tried to convey the message to her, and he needed to beat the little bastard to the quick. This needed to come from his own mouth. If he knew anything about Kagome as an individual, a quality she would carry over centuries would be her aversion to hiding truths. Even telling her himself would result in distaste, and possibly anger. Tempering it by telling her himself was the best option. Having come to that discernment, that didn’t change the fact he would need to become Shoma at least once more in her presence. While he could always attribute the unusualness of his appearance to cosmetics, hiding behind magic so he could better navigate the world unnoticed and inconspicuously as Shoma gave him more opportunities to do other things with his time besides run the empire he sat on.

Pulling on denim and a dark red tee, he called upon the magic he’d been taught in another country, feeling the press of its inhibiting power squeeze him back into his human husk. His hair slowly shortened, and bled back to its dull chestnut color, eyes shifting hazel only merely flecked with gold. His stripes, the pride of his heritage bled under the cool color of his skin, as did the ones on his wrists. His claws shrank to a far more humanesque size, and the man looking back at him was nearly unrecognizable as Sesshoumaru. He scowled at the stranger reflected back, turning so he wouldn’t have to look on it. After tonight, Gods willing he would never have to don the face of Shoma again. Not many of his readers knew what he looked like, and that was a face he was willing to change over and over again if need be to protect his identity. 

He called his driver around, and reached the pub twenty minutes before the time Kagome allotted. Sesshoumaru thanked the gentleman and entered the pub, noting how few people were there. Music was playing already, and it sounded like someone was already completely toasted, singing bawdily along with the songs playing. Aniah was polishing glasses behind the bar hard with worry written all over her face as she watched a woman sway with a song speaking of love lost, raising a small whiskey glass like it was a lighter. She was mired in the smell of alcohol, and it wasn’t until he was within twenty feet when he realized it was her. She nearly fell off the stool when she leaned over to jab at the random man sitting rigidly beside her, her black slacks and black button up wrinkling as she caught herself on his arm. 

“I’m sorry Danske. I didn’t listen. You were right. And I was wrong. I hope you accept my apology. Just understand I won’t be dating until I die. That’s not your fault though.” The golden liquid sloshed a touch, nearly spilling a drop, but she took another fair sip of it before slamming the beverage back on the bar. It was Kagome. And she was drunk. Sesshoumaru was about to step forward around one of the tables when Aniah’s waving caught his attention. She was at the farthest corner of the bar shaking her head no, trying to discourage him from approaching. He tilted his head a touch, confused at the display of people before him. Slowing his approach, he came around the other side of Kagome and her attention honed on him like well thrown knives.

Her aura flared brilliantly, and his skin ached at its not-so-subtle scrape. Kagome’s eyes were flashing angrily at him.

“You..” She hissed in a low tone. Sesshoumaru didn’t realize he’d taken a step back as she slid off the stool, but when he moved back one more step, he realized her aura alone was shoving into him angrily, pushing him back. 

“You son of a bitch.” She growled, aura snapping angrily. “How dare you? You have nerve, coming back here. Nerve!” 

Her finer stabbed at his chest, punctuated by a painful jolt of purifying power... As though she knew it would be painful. Her rage tasted like aged, deep red wine and his stomach bottomed out. 

“You know.”

He could see the lashing of her aura around her, not quite hitting him yet, but managing to move things around her. The pub was vibrating with her mounting power, and his eyes shifted to the terrified looks of confusion following them. 

“Get out. All of you.” He boomed. People seated began to scatter and run for the door until the serving floor was empty. Kagome, despite being intoxicated, had an impeccable sense of aim. She slapped him, furiously across the face. The sting of her power enunciated the pain of her slap, and he saw no reason for pretense anymore. The magic fell away, and the ache of keeping his power so thoroughly restrained in public was no more. 

“I should’ve known it was you, you son of a bitch.” She roared, arms akimbo. She spun in place, slapping the counter and sending glasses rattling before spinning again on her heel to wave a finger in his face. “It’s not a damn wonder I thought of you every time you did something... Well.. like yourself!” 

Aniah scrambled over to them on the other side of the counter.

“Shoma, please calm her down. Kagome, girl, if you aren’t careful someone is going to call the cops for a disturbance. You gotta reign it in!”

Sesshoumaru knew the second Aniah looked to him for the solution, she’d made a mistake. Especially with a drunkard. Kagome pounced towards her.

“But he lied to me! He lied about who he was, didn’t tell me the truth, fucked me using a facade! Wouldn’t that upset you?” She screamed, pounding the bar with her fist. The shockwave of her energy alone sent glasses skittering back, some shattering as they were pushed over the edge of the bar. 

“Aniah. I own the property. I am telling you to leave. Damages will be covered, tell the group to take the week. It will be paid, plus twenty percent of the week for tip. An email will be sent.” 

Aniah looked confused, but nodded and fled the bar, pushing the rest of the waiters and waitresses back into the kitchen. Once he heard the back door click and lock shut, he loosed his demonic aura in one powerful wave. She stumbled back, her back pressing into the bar as angry shock fluttered over her features. 

“How fucking dare you!” She sputtered, shoving him back with both hands alight in pure holy power. “Don’t threaten me, you bastard! You can shove your aura straight up your ass!”

She swore under her breath and all of the sudden, there were tears rolling down her face. Striding back to where she sat at the bar, she snatched her glass up and threw it at him. He caught the crystal effortlessly, setting it gently on the table behind him.

“You lied. Why the fuck did you lie to me? What is  _ with _ you and playing these wild, stupid games with me?” She stumbled over a chair as she grabbed a random glass, barely registering what it was when she finished what little was left of his contents and threw it opposite of them with a loud crash.

Sesshoumaru was almost at a loss. With her this upset, in this state with her holy power lashing every which way, no explanation would calm her. So instead of explaining it away, he provoked her again, letting a tendril of hot youki slap across her body in such a way she flew into a harsher rage. His hope was that he could irritate her into exhausting herself. If it was a fight she wanted, he would gladly comply. She responded in kind, and where she seemed drunk only a moment ago she was completely sober as she thrust pure energy at him with her hands, violently shoving him back into a collection of tables, shattering wood and sending a shower of splinters through the bar. He skidded back, finding purchase, and flexed his claws with a malicious grin as he bolted forward, just behind her and snatched her around the waist. 

“Let go of me you asshole!”

“How many times must I tell you? Do not make me think up a more valuable use for that mouth.”

She blathered some curses but still managed a hard elbow into his ribs for all her squirming and he grunted in pain, releasing her. Kagome scrambled to her feet, and this time, the hell cat threw a punch that set the side of his face ablaze with pain. It pushed him to circle her warily around the remaining chairs. It was not his intention to appear predatory; it was just his nature, and he could see her reacting to it accordingly, the pink ebb of her energy appearing in her aura to him as a defending wraith.

“How could you, Sesshoumaru? How could you not tell me?” His heart clenched as her face crumbled with more tears. “Those paintings... Were those yours too?”

She was looking at him with those glassy doe brown eyes, swimming with hurt, and he faltered in his answer.

“Yes. The paintings were mine.”

A full glass of beer from the nearest table she was standing at was hurtled towards him and he ducked to one side. 

“GODS I’m so fucking mad at you I can’t even SEE straight!” she bayed, fingers curling in her already tangled hair. It was only now Sesshoumaru fully processed the threat of being a demon in the presence of a woman made to be one of the most powerful priestesses of her time, and his. The purity in the air was palpable as the manifestation of her power grew in proportion. It had gone from simply swirling around her body in a gentle mist of energy to a maelstrom of crashing presence in the room, and as it grew with her fury, he edged farther back. Kagome stood, slowly turning around where he had paused in his loop around her and backed farther away. The tears were still in her eyes, running down her cheeks in twin translucent streams, but her brows were furrowed and angry. 

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why hide from me? What...” She shook her head, confused fury still written in her features. “What the hell did you even have to gain in hiding this?”

He stood silently, trying to gauge whether or not this was the time to explain. He’d most certainly had more experience with humans in the last hundred years, and was getting better at interactions all the time - however this was an entirely new, budding experience. It felt like there was far more at stake, and to make the wrong move would lose him a battle he hadn’t even intended to fight. 

“May I make a request?” He inquired softly. The pink of her energy pulsed and she snarled.

“Absolutely not. If you’re going to fuck around, stomping all over my life acting like it’s some big cosmic joke, I deserve a godamned answer.”

Perhaps it was because his recent tryst, pleasuring her until they were both numb that he felt a curl of arousal at her defiant face, or that there wasn’t a  _ living _ soul that would dare speak to him that way... But it was time to consider avenues with her he had never been accustomed to using with anyone else. Not even his adoptive daughters had ever seen him do what he was about to do, and he had high hopes all of the energy billowing between them had disabled the cameras in the pub that it should stay this way. Sesshoumaru threw pride to the wind and kneeled before her, slowly. He spread his hands wide, raising them from his sides in a conceding gesture.

“Kagome, there was nothing to be gained. We happened upon you when you were with the whelp having dinner at the bar one night.” When she folded her arms across her chest in anticipation of the rest of his answer he continued. “While it sounded like you attempted to  _ end _ the relationship, because it was not there was no reason for me to compete... Until..”

“Until  _ what _ , Sesshoumaru?” She pressed angrily. Gods, she could say his name a thousand times over in anger and he would still be pleased to hear the roll of it from a familiar voice.

“Until Aniah meddled.”

Kagome’s entire demeanor stilled, her lashing aura retreating pensively. 

“That night... The beer you paid for...” Her eyes slid shut and she rubbed at her brows. Her agitation was still present when she took her hand away. “That doesn’t explain why you felt the need to hide from me.”

Sesshoumaru blinked slowly at her. 

“The honest truth? I had no intention of interfering in a relationship you were already in.” 

She raised a condescending brow at him.

“Awfully pretentious, aren’t you?”

He felt himself grin mischievously at her before he could temper it and her face began to soften. There as still an air of resentment rippling around her ambience, but now she was looking around the bar, realizing how much she had broken and the mess she’d made and swearing softly under her breath.

“You make me absolutely insane. Completely and utterly insane.” She turned and walked slowly for the front door, shuffling through the mess of broken tables and glass. He stood slowly, moving to follow her but when he reached out to cradle her shoulder, he was repelled by a pure barrier. 

“Don’t touch me.” She growled softly over her shoulder. “I can’t even look at you right now. Follow me if you want, but you’re not welcome within speaking distance of me until I can sort this out. If I were you, and blessedly I’m not... I would do what Danske didn’t, and respect my desire not to speak until I’ve figured everything out for myself.”

“Kagome - ” 

Her energy pulsed, and the barrier balled like a fist, sending him skidding back from her through one of the tables and onto the floor. He pushed himself up slowly onto an elbow, shocked she was able to even throw him that far. Her eyes were positively glowering at him over her shoulder.

“Danske has a one up on you - he’s human enough not to be fried by my barrier.” She said softly, coldy. Then she pushed past the door and her power quickly faded. 

Sesshoumaru stared at the door for a long time before the acrimony hit him like a ton of bricks in a collapsing building. He’d been so careful, tried to tread lightly, and that stupid, shit-for-brains cowardly whelp had gone and made a cluttered clusterfuck of his plans. What he wanted to do was go find him and beat him within an inch of his life, then hit pause, nurse the little fucker back to health, and do it all over again. It had been a good long time since he’d been hunting up in the forests. He whipped out his phone and called Nina.

“Hey daddio - ”  
“Nina, I have few tasks for you. I need you to meet me down at the pub.” She didn’t get another word in when he ended the call. His abrasiveness was not taken well, as when Nina arrived she was a buzz with fury. It died for a moment as the heavy wooden doors banged open and she had her first look around the mess leftover from his and Kagome’s little chat. 

“What the fuck happened here, Dad?” She asked slowly.

“She found out. From someone that was not me.”

Her caution gave way to humor and she pursed her lips with a knowing nod, folding her arms under her chest. 

“I told you she wouldn’t -” 

“Enough. That is not what you have been called here for.”

Nina’s humor vanished again, now being replaced with irritation.

“Oh?”

“Call our contractor for the company, have them assess the damages. Contact our accountant, have the employees’s paid for the week off they were just given, plus a twenty percent tip on each of their paychecks. Promote Aniah to shift lead for the bar. And cancel this week’s recording studio. I need a break.”

Nina’s scowl deepened with every demand, and Sesshoumaru took a cleansing breath.

“I apologize if it sounds like demands. I need your help, Nina.”

Her face was rigid for a few more moments and she found herself begrudgingly sauntering over and wrapping her arms around his waist, picking him off of his feet for a hot second as she squeezed him hard. He returned the gentle embrace and gave her hair a soft pet before she finally released him.

“Fine, Papa-San. But you owe me. AND your readers. You’re gonna have to explain to them why they aren’t getting their weekly dose of smut.” She poked his nose as she dug her phone out of her jeans with her other hand. She was already dialing numbers when he gave her forehead a kiss and excused himself. 

It was high time he went hunting up in the mountains; perhaps he would dig down around the site he was funding in his most regal form. If there were anymore pesky demons, he’d enjoy playing with their corpses.

~*~  


Kagome didn’t remember the drive home. She didn’t even remember sitting down behind the wheel of the car, only that she had somehow managed the blurred drive home and dragging herself up the stairs like a wounded animal. She didn’t even fully come back to herself until she was standing in the middle of her living room. There was this buzzing in her ears that wouldn’t go away, and everything felt surreal, like a lucid dream. Yes, she was standing in her apartment. But not ... Wait... How long ago? She really had no concept of how much time had passed, but the rapid darkness filling her house meant that night was closing in. 

Everything was tinglingly numb, from the follicles of her hair, to the tips of her toenails. It was the weirdest feeling. Physically, she knew she could see and feel. She could smell, taste, and think. But the numbness that was spreading through her chest was a little.... Odd. 

_ “You know...” _

His entire being unfolded in a wave of warm, melting away the old with the new. Watching one attractive, medium length hair, well built man shift into another more familiar, more deadly one... Was one of the most unsettling things she’d ever witnessed. It was like watching Shoma die and be replaced by Sesshoumaru. In a way, Shoma was dead. All those times she reminisced about Sesshoumaru before Shoma were moot. Her cheek ticked, jaw clenching. He’d had so many opportunities to tell her. And he didn’t. 

Her eyes hurt, and she blinked, finally coming back to herself. She was still standing in the middle of her living room, and it was dark. She turned back around and flipped a light on to the living room and double checked the lock on the door, then scoffed. 

Like a lock could stop him from coming in here if he wanted to.

Like she wanted him not to come. 

Truthfully? Even if she had meant what she said, a small piece of her hoped there was still that stubborn dog that didn’t listen to her shrills about privacy. That he would come in here, reassure her with the ravishing of a lifetime... Again. The sheer number of conflicting feelings in her raged like a storm. She came back to the middle of her living room. There must be some kind of a vortex keeping her here, because as her fingers twitched, she still couldn’t manage the will to move for what felt like another long, drawn out minute.

And then it was like someone playing the drums right in the middle of her living room. Loud raging sounds in the middle of something chaotic, like a tornado destroying everything in site. The familiar sound of screaming in all of the crashing, the sting of cuts on her hands, sweat beading on her forehead as it dripped onto the floor. Flashing white, more crashing, and then she felt a cold heavy bottle in her hand, and her other twisting the corkscrew in to de-cork the wine bottle she was trying to open. A loud pop, and it was open. She took a few swigs before looking around and realizing she had completely demolished anything that could break in her apartment. The dishes were shattered on the floor of her kitchen, cups, plates, glasses.. Her living room was no better. The two vases she’d bought from a yard sale were in pieces in the random corners of her apartment, and the glass of her sliding door was shattered. Even her TV was a shattered mess. The glass from the art framed above her couch was littered on the fabric, and the harder she looked, the more she realized that there was blood all over the place. Looking down, at the bottle in her hand, she realized her hand had been cut and she was bleeding. 

Swearing under her breath, she moved from the kitchen to the bathroom and sat the bottle on the counter as she washed her hand under a stream of warm water. Once she the blood mostly cleaned, she wrapped her hand in a hand towel and picked the bottle of wine up again with her unhurt hand, taking another long drink as she entered her bedroom and sat heavily on the bed, kicking her shoes off, staring off into space as she brought one foot up to the edge of the bed and hugged her leg, resting her chin as she took another pitiful drink.

She was so angry. There was so much unresolved restlessness in her, a stinging bitterness that plunged through her chests. Her spirit ached for the kinship those knowing, burnished gold retinas reflected at her, but the audacity of him fooling with her as a human. It wasn’t a wonder she kept feeling intense pulses of youki; he met each challenger this way as a warning not to meddle him as a powerful creature. Or of course, to fuck with her. 

The way he’d said it.. It was like he wasn’t even going to bother trying to come back into her life, like it was some kind of chore. He hid his presence, didn’t bother to reveal himself, trampled all over her relationship; once it was all but done, it was completely demolished when Danske caught them in the afterglow. Gods... What had she done. What the fuck had she just done? Now it wasn’t a worry about Shoma leaving. She had to wonder where Sesshoumaru stood on staying in her life. All of the sudden she had something that would kill her to lose, and she hated that admission to herself. Even if she hated him at the end of the day and the way he’d handled all of this. The wine was gone, and her head was still swimming with unsorted emotions that made her stomach knot. She fell onto her side, still clutching the wine bottle and passed out.

*  
  
Light streamed through her bedroom window, agitating the hangover she had. She blinked to wakefulness, puzzled at the bottle she had in a death grip. Every tendon ached and cracked as she unwrapped herself from it. She scraped across the bedroom floor to go into the kitchen to start coffee and stepped on something sharp the second she set foot into the hallway leading to the living room.

“Fuck!”

Jumping back she dropped the bottle and it shattered on the floor. Looking out over the living room and seeing the wreckage from the fallout of last night, she felt tears gathering again and stopped herself.

“You did this part to yourself, Kagome.” She chided softly, stepping lightly to head back to her room and dig what looked to be a small shard of glass out of her foot. While her head ached, she made a mental to-do list. Once the glass was out of her foot, she dabbed at it with whatever cloth she could easily reach and looked around for her phone. When it was nowhere in sight, she found a pair of shoes and put them on so she could walk into the disaster that was her living room, surveying the damage. 

“Damn Kagome... Next time trash Sesshoumaru’s place.” She grumbled, searching for her broom. She looked on the counter, every surface she could looking for her phone, and finally found it. It was sitting, screen shattered in the pile of glass left from her sliding glass door. 

“Dammit.” 

First, Kagome swept up as much of the glass as she could before went to ask the neighbors to use their phone. They looked at her like she had horns sprouting from the top of her head, but agreed. Putting in a call to work, she asked for a week of time and if they needed her to call her back to wait as her phone was broken. Sosuke was irritated, but understood. Once that was done, she cleaned up the glass and broken dishes, and used the hand vacuum to get the small bits of dust and pieces, then taking the trash out. Once the apartment was somewhat respectable, albeit bare, she called the condo maintenance and told them a bird flew into her window last night. The man they sent up shook his head at the damage and asked more questions about the nonexistent bird, which Kagome stumbled through like an idiot. Once they had the date set, Kagome looked through what she hadn’t broken, and decided to box up what little was left of her dishes and set them out for someone to take.

The rest of the day was spent quietly for her despite the fact she was in and out of shops, trying to find replacements for everything she broke. The tech repair shop managed to fix her phone screen without too much fuss. Her dishes were another matter - it was a little harder to find something that spoke to her. Somehow, the day was such a hard blur she couldn’t find anything she wanted. She returned home to a terribly empty house, and the hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach was welcome by comparison of knots it had been in the night before. She found an apple still on the counter and nibbled before sighing, putting it back on the counter and curling up in bed. 

The next few days proceeded in the same way, in a bit of a daze really. She would get up from a sleepless night, go to start coffee, forget she hadn’t replaced the coffee pot she broke, and sit around her apartment. After about the third or so day she settled on a new TV. And the next day, she remembered to go get a coffee press and a kettle, as it would work for tea as well as coffee. The rest of the time was spent sitting on the couch, or in bed trying to decide where she wanted to start with Sesshoumaru. How to approach and broach the subject of why she was being avoided by him, why he hadn’t tried to find her. There were so many questions that went beyond that, but none of those answers were any kind of thing she was ready to face. It ached - so many unanswered questions that suddenly had the propensity of being answered by someone who knew the truth. 

She hated this part of this. The doubting side. The one that said maybe she didn’t want those answers, and perhaps the past was better left just laying there collecting dust with Sesshoumaru. She was currently seated on the couch with a bottle of soda rolling between her hands. The phone laying on her coffee table had been eerily silent. He hadn’t come for her, hadn’t bothered to call. Her anxieties revolving around being left behind flared every now and again, but there had been so much bliss in the silence... She would forget there was something to worry about. 

It came in waves, like grief. She still didn’t have the gumption to call Danske to apologize, to tell him he was right. That there was something off with Shoma, and that if he knew what was good for him, to stay far, far away. She wanted to apologize for getting him into the danger he was in even knowing her. All these apologies he wouldn’t even understand. 

She blew out a frustrated sigh. If only she could rely on Mr. Velvet like she had been to ease her frustrations. Last months problems seemed so small now. Kagome picked up her phone and headed for the bedroom, toying with the idea of calling Sesshoumaru. She dressed down into a pair of navy blue pajama shorts and its matching lacy camisole, then warmed some water in the kitchen for tea. Once she was satisfied, she sat down in the middle of her bed with her phone, and dialed Shoma’s number. 

It didn’t ring more than a couple of times before the line picked up, and his smooth, sexy voice answered.

“Kagome.”

She sat in silence for a pregnant moment; they both sat in the stillness together. 

“If I never figured it out... Would you ever have told me?” She asked softly. 

“Believe what you will... But I had every intention of telling you the night before you found out.”

She felt a scowl marring her face and took a calming breath.

“There is more we intended to tell you, and the opportunity was taken from us when you went digging for it yourself. It was a matter of time before you put the pieces together after your... other’s interruption that night.”

“Go back farther. If Danske never knocked. That’s what I really wanted to know.”

The soft puff of his breath could be heard over the silence. Her heart clenched every second he didn’t answer, and she could feel tears gathering. There was an assumption she’d been making, that now that he’d fucked her, he had settled an ageless curiosity and was done with her. He would slip away outside of her reach, never answering any other questions but to satisfy his needs.

“I have been looking for you. Searching after a certain time period, struggling to find anything outside of empty shrines and crazy old men boasting priestesses that had power like nothing ever seen. Only recently has been the attempt was to draw you out using historical stories. There was a hope, that the more parallels I drew between us, the more you would try to look for the author.”

Kagome swallowed thickly.

“It never occurred to me you would be so ingrained in your own life you wouldn’t have time to look for me as you hope I would for you.”

His words slapped angrily across her, even though they were said in his soft deep unassuming tone. She almost would have preferred it if he’d said it sneeringly. Tears she didn’t know gathered fell onto the comforter as she crossed her legs, putting her phone on speaker.

“Are you at your apartment?”

“I am.”

“May I come over?”

“I..” She hesitated. “I don’t know if that’s such a good..”

There was a light knock and she jumped.

“I might already be here.” 

She almost threw her phone, but common sense reminded her that it wouldn’t hit him, let alone hurt him, and she would have to pay for either a new phone or a new screen. She rose and went to the door, opening it to the weirdest thing she’d seen in the last twelve years. Sesshoumaru was standing with his hair in a long braid over one of his shoulders, a cell phone to his pointed ear. He tapped the end call button before depositing it in the pocket of his black slacks, and loosely gestured to the six pack of ciders hanging from his other hand.

“I brought a peace offering.”

Kagome felt the muscle in her cheek twitch in irritation, something it was doing rather often of late, but she stepped to one side and motioned him in with one hand and he brushed past her. Sesshoumaru was dressed for business. The crisp white button up had at least two of the buttons undone, and his sleeves were rolled up past his elbows. Where it looked pressed in some spots, others were wrinkled, just as his slacks were. Clean black leather shoes adored his feet, which he slipped off before entering her abode and turning in a pair of black socks to her, brow raised in question as to where he should put the perspiring bottles. 

She took them from his hand and went to the kitchen, pulling two and placing the rest in the fridge. Noiselessly, she stepped out of the kitchen and looked up, puzzled at the sight. Sesshoumaru was watching her unabashedly from her gray couch, his features making it that much harder to read.

“What?” She asked.

Sesshoumaru shook his head and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. She handed him an opened bottle, and turned to lean against the counter overlooking her living room, taking a sip herself, before rolling the bottle between her hands, staring down into the bottle. The heat of his presence is what made her look up, and his towering over her made her stomach drop. 

“Why are you here..?” 

His deep timbre wrapped around her like a warm blanket.

“You called first, Kagome. And I was getting impatient.” His nearness had her entire body wired and tense and when he reached for her face she flinched. Regret fluttered across his features, but were quickly quelled.

“You’ve been crying..” His tone was too soft for Sesshoumaru. 

“It happens when you have no idea where you stand in someone’s life. When you feel used.”

“Is that how you feel?”

Kagome ducked under him and went to where he had been sitting on the couch. “I don’t know how to feel Sesshoumaru. You have the weirdest, messiest fucking timeline.” 

Tossing her head back, she took a long swig from her bottle before continuing.

“You just canon-balled into my life, playing pretend, not even being honest with me about who you were, then have sex with me in disguise. I don’t know, Sesshoumaru, why don’t you flip the script. See how you’d feel if you were in my geta?” 

She was glaring at him now, and having trouble pushing her feelings down. It was like she turned into a teenager overnight, and she hated feeling so out of control.

Sesshoumaru was still standing at the edge of her kitchen. He set his bottle down on the counter and approached her. 

“I wouldn’t know how to feel.”

“Then don’t expect me to just be okay with you suddenly showing up. Gahd...” She shook her head. “It isn’t that I’m not thrilled to know you are alive and well. Just...”

She planted both feet on the floor. 

“FUCK!” She shouted, scowling at him. “You are the most annoying asshole in the entire world! Why the hell do you fucking do this to me? First its spying on me while I’m naked, then it progresses to you propositioning.. When does this wild upheaval of my life end?”

“What more do you want from me? An apology?” He finally belted back. “How many times am I going to have to explain I was trying  _ not _ to invade your life!”

She stared, bewildered at his sudden shift.

“You looked happy enough without my goddamned meddling, so I tried to do nothing of the sort, but then you kept coming, kept agreeing, kept wanting to be around me, and I did not have the fortitude to say no!” He was clearly agitated, beginning to pace on the far side next to the door of her apartment. Kagome wished her vases were still here so she could throw them at him. A draft from the plastic over her broken sliding glass door to her patio sent cold air rushing between them and she shivered. It also distracted the usually level headed Demon Lord, and he frowned at the plastic, just noticing it. 

“What the hell happened there?” He demanded. She wanted to be bashful, embarrassed about her violent outburst earlier, but she was just too damned exhausted to hide anything. 

“It shattered when I threw a vase at it. Or at least.. I think it was a vase that shattered it. Honestly, I can’t even fucking remember.”

He blinked at her. 

“You did this?”

She peered at him with defiant nod and a “So?”, then finished what was left in the bottle and settled it on the floor. Kagome jumped when he started to laugh, scrubbing his eyes with his thumb and forefinger.

“Good to know we are both driving one another absolutely insane.” He said through his chuckles, and Kagome was so taken aback by his observation that she had started to laugh too. 

He sighed and leaned against the wall by the door frame.   
“Are you okay to stay here tonight? I imagine it gets cold at night.” 

She nodded.

“It does, but that’s what blankets and heaters are for. I just shut the door to the bedroom and put the heater on until the room is cozy.”

He nods, the smile slowly fading. 

“I like hearing you swear.” 

She laughed, hanging her head. 

“You used to say -” 

“I’d find a better use for that mouth if you insisted on using it for foulness.” He finished, chuckling. 

Kagome looked up, face beginning to soften even as she was sure the edges of her eyes were showing the tiredness in her. 

“Listen... I’m not saying I’m happy with you at all. I’m not saying everything is just water under the bridge, because it isn’t.” She paused, then eyed him. “But I wouldn’t object if you wanted to stay tonight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are a pillow on a pillow and two soft warms on a cold night - wonderfully cozy! Thank you for taking the time, DaisySTPatience, KRiley07, MoniqueFrost, Lynn_Nexus, majorblood89, ohkayflow, bandcandygiles, Sakura_the_red_panda, and Milomai19!  
> Constructive Criticism is welcome, as becoming a better writer is always the goal! Thank you for reading!


	13. Encumberance of Responsibility

Sesshoumaru had pushed off of the wall and there was clearly a conflicted. She could see it written all over his face. She supposed she could understand his hesitation - she’d just gotten through ripping him a whole new asshole, and from what she could gather through his frustrations, he had no desire to wreck what little relationship he had already cultivated from his disastrous choices. A lot of what she was guessing still begged questions to be answered, but she was willing to put herself out there if he was willing to answer. 

“Seriously. You’re welcome to stay.” She insisted, rising. His hesitation was endearing. For the first time in knowing him, he looked lost as to what decision to make. Kagome was a bit torn herself as to how to respond. Honestly, she still wanted to be angry with him. What would that get her though? She couldn’t afford another tantrum. Literally, could not afford another phone and the amount it cost to replace another door. Tucking her pride away would cost nothing, and she would be remiss in saying she didn’t want a repeat performance of last week. 

“Y’know what... I’m not offering. I’m asking. Stay with me tonight. We don’t have to do anything, go anywhere. Just.. Why don’t we start the way you should have started to begin with.”

A handful of claws ran through his silver hair.

“Are you sure this is what you want?”

Kagome resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Now, she was sure. He was treating her delicately... It only proved he didn’t want to fuck this up.

“If I didn’t mean it, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have said it.” She answered, approaching him like she would a skittish pup. Reaching up, she put her hand on his cheek, stroking the brilliant beautiful magenta stripes there. His eyes slid shut, and he all but purred under her in a rumbling growl that made her heart leap. 

“You do not know what you do to me when you touch those...” 

She let her nails drift over them as she ran a fingertip over one, stroking his bottom lip with her thumb.

“What am I doing?” She asked breathlessly. This wasn’t exactly what she planned on doing, but it was hard to resist when he sounded so vulnerable. The Sesshoumaru she remembered was full of confidence, even if it was false bravado, and had no qualms about telling whomever what he wanted. This Sesshoumaru was discomforting at moments, but he was being so gentle with their relationship... She was finding it a bit annoying having to take all the initiative. 

“If I didn’t know any better, little one, I would think you were trying to get this kind of reaction from me.. The one that ends with you beneath me..” His breath as he closed the distance was warm. 

She swallowed hard.

“You aren’t wrong.” She admitted, slowly dropping her hand away and stepping back to put more distance between them. “But I think we have something a bit more pressing to address...”

Sesshouaru’s eyes clenched before opening.

“Speak.” 

Kagome’s lips pursed, her dander rising again and folded her arms.

“I need you to be completely honest with me, Sesshoumaru. Start thirty years back, so I can understand. And please..” She paused, looking at the floor. “I’m not ready to hear about the others yet. There’s still a bit of shock associated with standing in front of you.”

When she looked back up, he was looking over her with a mild tilt to his head, like he was still trying to figure out just where he stood with her now that she wasn’t raving angry. 

“I’ll agree on one condition.” He answered. She opened her mouth, wanting to tell him he could fuck off with his conditions, that he was one to talk about conditions but he was quick to the draw.

“Lets order something to eat and talk over food.”

Her mouth snapped shut when her stomach answered for her. If she were being honest, it had been about two days since she had remembered to eat anything.

“Fine.” Kagome picked up her drained beer bottle and threw it in the trash can in her kitchen, then headed to her bedroom to close the door and sit on the bed. She could hear him shuffle around the living room at first before her couch sighed as he sat. Dragging her knees to her chest, she leaned her forehead on them, and fought back tears again. She still felt so guilty, so angry with him, but the other half of her that wanted his warmth and comfort was growing stronger every second he was in her apartment. Gods, she was so tired. 

The only thing she could really appreciate was the fact that a decision had been made, almost for her. Yes, she owed Danske and apology he would probably never accept and he had every right not to. But she wasn’t even sure how to go about such a thing, not when she still had so much to work through with the Lord of the West. 

She stayed in her bedroom, tucked against herself until a soft knock came to her door. 

“Food is here.” came his muffled voice. 

She cleared her throat.

“Coming.” 

She looked over her disheveled appearance, blue pajama set wrinkled and hair mussed and she threw her hair up in a tight bun, out of her face before leaving her bedroom. Sesshoumaru must have navigated the kitchen, finding at least chopsticks and one or two mismatching mugs she seemed to have missed when she destroyed the dishes in her kitchen.

“I seem to recall dishes that are no longer here, and pieces that I don’t see anymore.” He said, patting the gray couch where he settled. She joined him warily, and picked up her eating utensils. It looked as though he ordered soba noodles and a few steamed vegetable dishes as well as steamed buns and miso in styrofoam cups. He served himself and offered her whatever he had drawn from, until their plates had been filled. Her stomach twisted painfully, and anxiety reared its ugly head - the food smelled delicious, but the act made her feel sick. She had a piece of broccoli up to her mouth when her stomach lurched at the smell and she set the plate and utensils down slowly. Sesshoumaru eyed her from a mouthful of noodles, finishing them before he spoke. 

“Kagome, you should eat.” He insisted softly, plate on his lap.

“I would if I could.” She snapped irritably, curling in on herself. “It's a waste of food if I just throw it up.” 

Her stomach was bitter, churning angrily in her as she nearly gagged on the smell of food. She picked up the styrofoam container of miso and opened it, sipping the hot soup slowly. Sesshoumaru’s plate was on the table and he folded his hands in front of him as he began telling her everything she wanted to know. It took maybe ten minutes before she had all the basic details and she could start asking questions bit by bit. He’d been out of the country for a fair bit, learning new cultures around the world and how it worked while managing a fortune amassed from living a long, productive life of alliances, trade deals, and learning new things as they arrived. He had begun searching shrines over the last twenty five years, looking for signs of her around the areas they used to frequent as a group in the past, before she disappeared, and came up empty handed every time. There was no individual place that held any amount of significance for it to garner more attention, and after five years of fruitless searching, he spent more time investing in business and the arts, collecting antiques, putting money towards archaeological finds and studies.

The library had only recently been erected in the last few years, hosting some of the finest written works produced by demon and human hands of their time. It was his collection that inspired him to begin to write, telling stories of his past and making new stories as his memories turned towards her and her capriciousness.

“I was coming to the end of one of my stories through a podcast my daughter -” 

“You have a daughter?” Kagome asked, stomach falling off the couch. He blinked.

“She was adopted into the family, much like Rin. Her pride left her behind, we came upon her, and she was given to Rin to raise as a cub. You know her. Nina.”

The blonde haired woman that stopped them once at the bar... Kagome nodded. “Yeah, I remember her now. Nina.”

Sesshoumaru nodded. “She’s not of traditional values. Nina prefers the modernism to the simplicity of the feudal era. Where technology has become a marvel, it tends to be complex and tedious. I miss the quiet nature of the old days.”

She nodded. “I definitely get that. Kinda why I chose the field I did. I hoped to get a fraction of that peace back, the adventure.”

There was a wistfulness she couldn’t hide as she considered her choice of field in this world. 

“You sound sad.”

She eyed him and nodded, sipping a touch more of the now lukewarm soup. Her stomach was settling, and she reached for her plate again, hoping this time she would have an appetite to eat. When her stomach didn’t violently lurch at the smell, she took slow, cautionary bites and nodded for him to continue.

“I was working on a few chapters at the pub when you came in with him. My back was to you, and I was inn the booth behind you. I heard the entire conversation, Kagome.” He chuckled. She sucked some noodles into her mouth and blushed. 

“Yeah... I just wasn’t feeling the excitement we used to share.” She said past the noodles. Swallowing, she let the plate down into her lap. “And he made me feel so guilty for trying to call it quits so soon after we started dating. We were coworkers well before we started dating, and my friends kinda pressured me to get out into the dating scene before I became an old maid.”

Sesshoumaru’s brow raised in clear disapproval and she laughed. 

“You aren’t my daddy, Sesshoumaru. And I’m not perfect. I didn’t disagree with them, I needed to get out into the world a bit more. And it was fun at first, but it got so boring so fast, and I thought it was my fault...” Kagome trailed off and picked up a couple of snap peas, chewing thoughtfully. “In hindsight, I really shouldn’t have dated my coworker even if he was a subcontractor. Eri’s had enough brushes with guys in retail that she’s dated that ended in disaster. I should’ve known better.”

She crunched on the vegetables, eating until she was full and set the plate aside. 

“When I realized you were in a relationship, and not getting out of it, I decided I didn’t want to interrupt it if you were happy.” His exhaled sharply. “I knew where you were, knew what your full name was, and a bit more about where you worked. If I wanted to check on you in six months, it was easier to do so. When you showed up on your own to the bar and approached me about buying you a beer, it caught me completely off guard. The bar tends to dampen my senses and in disguise, makes the problem even worse.”

His throat bobbed as he swallowed heavily.

“There you were. In a bright yellow shirt, jeans showing your skin and form, and boots.” Sesshoumaru dragged his hand down his face. “And thanking me for a beer I didn’t purchase. I didn’t even know what to do. It just happened. And it didn’t stop. And I didn’t want it to stop, because every time you texted, every time you called, I kept thinking... What if?”

Kagome’s stomach was crawling out her door, and the guilt was returning with a vengeance. If she were being honest with herself, it wasn’t until after the first kiss she really realized spending alone time with him was inappropriate while she was in a relationship she was supposedly committed to. 

“I should have stopped you. I shouldn’t have -” 

“Kagome, you aren’t the only one at fault here. I knew you were in a relationship. While it wasn’t right, I still wanted and encouraged seeing you without him.”

The anxiety was beginning to abate even if it was being replaced by a surge of guilt for what both of them knew was intentional cheating. 

“At some point, Kagome, you’re going to need to move past him if this is what you want.” 

A stab of anxiety struck through her guilt. What she wanted... Glancing over at Sesshoumaru, his face was fatiguing around the edges with worry that was uncharacteristic o the Demon Lord that tormented and teased her in her imaginings before. This wasn’t what she wanted. At least not how she wanted it; but there was nothing for the mistakes that were made. He was right - she would have to move past her guilt with this. And in order to do that, she needed to make her apologies and amends, otherwise not even trying would be a weight on her mind. She rose and found her phone on the kitchen counter, then fiddled with it as she sat back down, looking up at Sesshoumaru before opening it and dialing Danske’s number. 

Sesshoumaru’s brow furrowed at her as he answered.

“What, Kagome.” His tone was flat.

“Hey... Danske. Can I possibly bribe you with coffee and breakfast tomorrow morning at my office?”

There was a pause and a sigh.

“Fine. You bring the coffee, I’ll bring doughnuts. That shit you bring from the coffee shop is terrible. What time?”

“How about nine-thirty?”

“Just tell me one thing, Kagome.” Danske said, voice strained. “Are you safe?”

Kagome blinked back the glassiness in her eyes and nodded. Feeling stupid she croaked, “Yeah. Yeah I am. I’ll tell you about it tomorrow.”

They said their goodbyes and she hung up the phone. Sesshoumaru’s confusion cleared a touch.

“So what do you want, Kagome?”

Her phone slid across the coffee table and settled by a cold take-out carton as she rose and turned on her knee on the couch. It slid beside Sesshoumaru’s hip, her other helping her settle cautiously over his hips. Her fingers feather the edges of his face, nails stroking up his marked cheeks and over the shell of his ears as she tried to memorize every inch of his face. Brushing his silver bangs back, away from his shifting golden eyes she pressed her mouth to his in the chastest kiss. Her breath wouldn’t come, and she held it for a long time as the air stilled around them, her eyes fluttering closed with the heat of breath from his parted lips caressing hers in shallow exhales. When her eyes slid open, he’d shut his magenta lined eyes and his brow creased like he was concentrating very hard not to move. 

“I want you, Sesshoumaru.” She whispered duskily. His breath hitched, eyes snapping open and face twinging with desperate need. “I don’t want anyone else. I don’t think I ever really considered anyone else an option after you; I want you.”

She dusted a kiss on his parted lower lip, then agonizingly slowly down to his chin and lower. His torso had turned towards her, clawed fingers digging into the gray couch with white knuckles. Sesshoumaru’s throat bobbed beneath her lips when he swallowed, and as her fingers brushed down his shoulders over his chest to undo the first button she came to on his crumpled white button up, she settled her other knee on what little of the couch was left he was sitting on, centered over his lap. She leaned away just long enough to unbutton the rest of his shirt, lightly tugging it away from where it was tucked in his pants. When she chanced a look up, his demeanor had darkened considerably. The peek of his fangs behind parted lips had her licking hers, and she leaned forward clutching his now bare skin so she could feel the brush of them on her mouth. She gasped when his teeth closed over her lower lip and she felt the sharp pierce of those deadly fangs. The coppery tang of blood filled her mouth, and his sudden demanding press made her whimper.

Strong fingers grasped her ass and she was in the air, moving quickly for her bedroom. She was laid out reverently on the bed. Seshoumaru felt her shudder, and this feeling, this wild abandon welled up inside of her and exploded. Sesshoumaru ripped his shirt off his body, shrugging out of it and throwing it to the floor. When his hands were free, one was working his belt while the other was coiling beneath her blue camisole and pressing it upward in his subtle brushes of her skin. His mouth refused to be parted from her, licking and nipping at the bites. Kagome could hear herself, the sounds she made that she’d never heard herself make with anyone else. She swallowed every hard press of his lips, and returned it with a fevered enthusiasm that was self-reciprocating. He would ebb, she would press, she would fall back and he would strain forward with an urgency she knew they both felt. The whipping of his belt through their loops barely registered, let along the clangor of it being tossed to the floor. 

His thumb was dexterous as he unbuttoned his slacks, and her heart was pounding. The merest pause had her looking down the line of their bodies, and she saw there was nothing but the slacks for him to spring free of. His hand was wrapped around his soft cock, which was rapidly stiffening in his grasp. When she stopped returning his kisses, he growled against her cheek, removing a hot hand from beneath her cami and correcting her face roughly, pressing the back of her head so she angled her lips back so he could claim them again. His other must have come away from his member, because she felt the slide of his fingers beneath the shorts she was wearing to cup her bottom. He pulled away from her and searched her face, eyes searing with need.

“Tell me to go to hell. That you’ll be happier without me. That you don’t need me. I will gladly go if it makes you happy.” He panted, pressing his forehead to hers as his eyes slid shut. A noise of protest crawled from her chest. 

“Never.” She rasped. His eyes clenched, his fingers squeezed the fleshy globe of her ass and her shorts were tugged roughly down her thighs and off her legs with her swift lean back. He followed suit and was standing tall over her. Her eyes memorized the smooth cut of his body, the pallid brightness of his skin and their sharp, contrasting marks over his hips and wrists. The way he was looking down on her, the caliginosity of lust hiding anything else from her had her naked thighs clenching. He didn’t wait a millisecond more, and her clenched thighs were ripped apart to make way for his hips. She cried out at the sudden roughness of his motions, growing wetter with his decisive movements. Sesshoumaru kissed her again hard, swiveling her head with a handful of her dark hair and shifting his restless hips over her rapidly dampening pussy lips to grind the length of his cock over her, gathering as much of her moisture as he could before he pulled himself back once. 

“Look at me.” He commanded, gripping her hair. Her eyes flew open to meet his narrowed eyes and his cock plunge home with a wet squelch. 

“Fuck!” She cried out, brows creasing and eyes trying to see where he had so mercilessly joined them. A shake of her hair in his fist had her attention back on his eyes, and when she met his ruthless gaze, his hips surged back and plunged forward again in a harsh, pummel of thrusts that had her choking on every cry and face crumpling with pleasure. 

“LOOK AT ME.” He bellowed every time her eyes clenched shut, pulling her head back as she arched off the bed with every angry thrust, trying to meet his hips unsuccessfully. She was keening, crying out for him not to stop, and every mewled request was met with a rumble of approbation until she couldn’t even make requests anymore. Kagome felt the first orgasm rush up to meet her like a splash of hot water. It flooded through her with a harsh shout. All of the sudden the rest of her body was overdressed and the camisole itched on her skin. She clawed it upwards as he paid no mind to slowing his reckless pumping. He paused long enough to drag her body towards the edge of the bed until her ass was hanging mid-air above the floor. Pressing his torso, hot against her skin as they dragged over one another had her nipples eagerly searching for more contact. One of his hands cradled her lower back as he plundered her body with every thrust, the other wrapped around the top of her head to keep her from being jostled out from under him with every stroke of his cock. Every growl and grunt he made sent shockwaves of pleasure through her core and the tips of her body. Her next orgasm crashed through both of them both like a train. 

She couldn’t help the scream tearing from her.

He was ripping her apart at every seem, every touch sending spirals of sublime bliss through every pore of her being.

~*~

Kagome was screaming like a wildcat beneath him. He was gone. She’d run off with the last shred of his sanity and self-control the second the word  _ never _ rolled out of her mouth. At some point she had pulled her camisole up and couldn’t pull it any farther. The front of him was coated with the slickness of her first two orgasms, and her locked legs wouldn’t let him go any farther away from her hips than it took to pull out of her until just the tip of his member was still teasing her entrance to ram himself back home. 

Everything fell into place in these moments between them. The frantic rush of their hands, the tearing of her fingernails down his arms. The handful of her hair he had made her arch beautifully beneath him every time he gave her a light tug. He was losing track of time, and he didn’t care. The unspent rage towards the bastard that defiled her the first time, the anger he had that she was forced to apologize for something incessant when they both knew, deep down that there was no denying the need for one another. He roared, breaking the hold of her legs around his waist to flip her onto her hands and knees. She barely had those moments to catch her breath - he pressed her upper half into her bed, spreading her thighs wide and pausing just long enough to enjoy the pretty pink picture her pussy made when she was pressed prostrate before him in this manner. 

Her breath was stolen when he shoved his cock back into her, one hand pressing her into the mattress as the other steadied her hips and began moving. The slap of her skin, the wet sounds her cunt made with every rolling thrust he made against her... It sparked along the back of his neck, raising the hair there and he tilted his head back, releasing his grip on her hair. His claws dragged down her back, leaving brilliant red scratches that smelled of blood and carnal things and came to rest on the other side of her hips. He was holding her up at this point, and could hear her sobs of pleasure, saw her toes curling, smell the tears rolling down her cheeks and he leaned back, sinking his cock as far as it would go inside of her repeatedly and reveling in its velvet, vice-like grip. 

_ I need you.. _

He could feel the red of his beast swallowing the sanity in his eyes, room swimming with turquoise. It was coming up on him, crawling down his neck, over his spine... The harder he drove into her, the closer it came.

“I am about to cum, Kagome..” He husked, not slowing. “Do you want it?”

“Yes!” She sobbed, “Please, please please!”

_ Please don’t leave me... _

He hauled her up by her elbows just as the mind-numbing burst of pleasure washed over him entirely and he bellowed in sharp growls, crashing home once as his came in harsh spurts, pressing into her a few more times as his breath slammed out of his chest. Both of them fell to the bed, Sesshoumaru managing to catch himself on shaking arms as he panted over the sheen of sweat on her shoulders. She shuddered beneath him, fingers still grasping at his hands beside her. When he caught his breath, he pressed a warm kiss into her left shoulder blade, hips twitching with every twitch of her pussy over his sensitive cock. 

_ I need you... _

__ ~*~

Kagome didn’t remember showering. That could easily account for why she felt so gross when she woke up. Everything felt sticky with sweat. Her bedroom door was closed - she was facing it for some reason. She tried to piece together what happened, and it came back in a hot rush of panting and grabbing hands. Somewhere between the couch and the bedroom she’d lost complete control, and it was one of the shining most blessings she’d ever had in her life. There was an ache, a stickiness between her thighs that told her instead of cleaning up, they both passed out. Speaking of which... She turned, trying not to shuffle too much and when she got a glimpse of him behind her, her heart stopped. 

Silver hair splayed around him in an almost delicate looking frame, his bangs stuck to his forehead. His eyes were closed, head rested on a pillow his arm was cradling and still wearing his ruined slacks. She doubted even washing them would save them from the mess that was their front and she made a face. As hot as it was last night, it was kinda gross this morning. She stole out from under the hand that was twitching on her hip and went to the bathroom. Kagome didn’t realize just how sore she was, and when she put weight on her legs she almost fell to the floor. Knock-kneed, she managed to make it to the bathroom to use the facilities and start the hot water for a shower. Her alarm clock in the bedroom had read that she still had about an hour before she needed to be to work, and there was still the coffee shop she needed to stop by... 

Right. Danske.

There was that too. 

She took a hasty shower, dressing in a pair of jeans and a faded black tee with some random anime print. Her wet hair didn’t have time to do anything but be brushed through and thrown under a matching black ball cap she had laying around her closet for just such occasions. She came out of her closet and noticed the silver haired demon was still sleeping blissfully. Leaning against the frame to watch him sleep, her eyes ran over the subtle curve of the muscle of his back, the bunching of his forceps and the steady rise and fall of his chest. He was beautiful. He was laying in her bed, half naked. He was here. She chewed on her thumbnail, wondering if she should leave a note and deciding to write one out before she left the apartment. Grabbing a black toggle button coat for the rain outside, she scribbled a note out to Sesshoumaru and left it on the pillow he wasn’t using, then hastily headed for her car to get to the coffee shop. 

She called ahead and requested her order, and by the time she got their it was just rolling out. She tipped generously and rain back out into the storm to drive to work. Sosuke greeted her heartily before he got a good look, and when he did, the concern was written on his face. 

“Good Gods, woman!” he exclaimed softly. “What happened? It wasn’t those rascally benefactors, was it?!” 

He was already revving to get his phone when she stopped him.

“No, no. Danske and I are breaking up. Its been a rough week for me...” She finally said. The older man looked at her with a saddened frown.

“Oh my dear. I’m terribly sorry. He was a good boy, that Danske. Was it him? I’ll rough him -” Kagome laughed and stopped him again, shaking her head. 

“No, no Sosuke it was me. I brought this onto myself. Now I just have to apologize, so be nice when he comes in, okay?” 

The older man eyed her suspiciously but sighed and nodded. 

“Very well very well.” he blustered. “I’ll just be in my office if you need something, Kagome. There isn’t much for you to look over, but we do need a floor plan for the new suits that came in as well as the finished translation for the scroll you received from our benefactor. You can do that at home though, if you need to take the rest of the day, Kagome.” 

Kagome nodded and gave the burly man one armed hug before walking down to her office. She opened the door and swallowed a surprised yelp when Danske turned, standing from the chair across from hers. 

“Danske. I wasn’t expecting you so..’ She looked at her phone, noting it was only nine-twenty. “Soon. Please.. Sit.”

He did as she asked, accepting the disposable cup of coffee. A small pink box with pastries sat in the middle of her desk. Nothing could cut the tension out of the office though, and when she sat at her desk, she put both palms down, fingers spread over her desk trying to get her bearings. It was hard to meet his eyes, and when she did, saw that they were very nearly lifeless as he looked at her over his cup. 

“What did you want to talk about, Kagome.” He sighed. Anxiety knotted her stomach, but she swallowed the sickly sweet bile that clawed at her throat. Her fingers laced together, thumbs worrying one another as she gathered herself.

“Fucking spit it out, Kagome.” Danske was sitting straighter. “I don’t have all of my life waiting on you to make up your mind.”

She started at his voice but nodded.

“Right.. Well.. I’m sorry.” She said, voice trembling. “I honestly didn’t expect -” 

“Sorry you cheated? Or sorry you got caught?” He deadpanned, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees, cup settled between his hands. She could feel the sting of tears gathering at the edges of her eyes. 

“I’m sorry it came to cheating.” She said, desperately trying not to sound strangled. “I’m sorry you got hurt. It was never my intention to -” 

“I don’t get this, Kagome. I never have. I don’t get how you can just go and fuck someone else when I was right there!” He countered, his cup rolling between his hands as his furrowed gaze fell on hers. There was clear hurt in his eyes. “If you didn’t want this relationship, why didn’t you just say so?”

Her voice caught as she tried to explain herself and finally she rested her forehead in her palm as she tried to regroup. 

“I tried to tell you earlier. I really did, but you sounded so sure, and I thought I was being a bitch, not giving you the time you deserved.. I don’t know Dan, I really don’t.. Know how to explain this to you without it sounding stupid.”

“Because it is stupid.” he muttered, shaking his head and standing, tossing the full cup inn her trash can and sending coffee spattering everywhere. He pointed at her as he zipped his coat up with his other hand “This is completely fucking stupid. And you still don’t seem like the type to just leave someone hanging like this. You don’t.”

He ran his hand through his hair, puffing his cheeks out.

“Honestly, I know it was that Shoma guy. He’s said something, done something to make you think he’s this great guy. Good men don’t do this Kagome. And good women should know better than to cheat.” 

The finality in his voice slapped her across the face with shame. It burned in her cheeks and she could barely look at him, blinking back more tears.

“All I wanted to say was I’m sorry for hurting you Danske. That’s all I wanted to say.” She croaked, rising from the desk as well and hugging herself. His voice was written with suffering. Confusion and frustration were pouring from him, as much as his justified anger. It was when he sidestepped her desk, grabbed her by the shoulders and tried to kiss her that she shouted and shoved him back. Stumbling he swore under his breath. 

“I’m... Kagome... Just.....” He couldn’t even articulate his frustration anymore, and in one last bellow of frustration he swept papers off of her desk clattering to the floor alongside their bins and containers.

“FUCK!”

He was shaking, she could see the fine tremor in his hands.

“I think you need to leave, Dan. Now.” Her voice was much steadier than it had been a moment ago, but held the edge of panic. “We said what we needed to say. You should go.”

He spun back around.

“YOU said what you needed to say! I don’t even know what the fuck to say! Just... Stay the fuck away from me in the future, Kagome. I can’t promise I’ll be all business for a while. I just don’t know how long that’s going to be. This was a bad idea.” 

He shook his head and stormed out, slamming the door shut behind him. Kagome’s knees gave out. The cold concrete of the floor was littered with her research papers, affidavits, receipts. She just couldn’t seem to get her heart rate down, and panic threatened to swallow her. Her door squeaked open and her boss came in, blustering about the mess and paused when he saw her on the floor, eyes going wide as he rushed to help her up off the floor. 

“Danske couldn’t have made this mess! What was that little.. that little bastard thinking!” He hollered from the doorway. Kagome couldn’t even focus on his outrage, just that she needed someone to help her calm down. She dialed Sesshoumaru’s number and prayed he was awake, heart skipping a beat when the line clicked.

“Kagome?”

Her throat closed up as she whispered his name, and began to cry, hiding her eyes behind her hand. He was there, in seconds it felt like pushing past Sosuke who was speaking with security to bar Danske from the museum. His hand cupped her chin, stroking up her cheek as he tried to guide her to look at him and stroking her, and she sobbed. 

“I thought... Just wanted to apologize..” she cried as he wiped the tears away with his thumbs. He didn’t speak, but coaxed her up with gentle nudges. Sosuke was silenced as they passed through the door.

“Well, Lord Sesshoumaru!” He bubbled. “It's a rare thing to see you here! However in the world do you know Miss Kagome?”

“Mind it not. We’ll escort her home.” 

The older man’s mustache waggled and understanding lit his eyes.

“Of course of course... I shall have someone clean up this mess. Do let us know how she fares tomorrow, would you?” the old man’s tone was marked with concern, but he shuffled away. 

Sesshoumaru didn’t even bother relying on her to walk out on her own. He pressed her to his person, carrying her out to a slightly larger town car where the door was opened for them in the rain and shut promptly behind them. Kagome sniffled and hiccupped, feeling ridiculous and pathetic. She wasn’t really sure how else it could possibly have gone though. It wasn’t as though she expected him to just see her side of things, get down on his knees and bless her for apologizing, but she didn’t expect him to grab her, certainly didn’t expect him to try to kiss her. Raging through and trashing her office was a possibility, but it still surprised her. She let Sesshoumaru cradle her head and rest her legs over his thigh. The gentle press of his lips against her forehead made more tears pour down her cheeks, grateful to have him at the very least be there to deal with the fallout of ending her relationship with Dan. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the lateness of the update! Taking time out of your day to review is always appreciated! Thank you so much for doing so, SeleneWolf, MoniqueFrost, milomai19, Lynn_Nexus, Sakura_the_red_panda majorblood89, mis_interpret, Lovelyjones, & Purple Rain!  
> Constructive Criticism is always welcome; becoming a better writer is the end goal!   
> Thank you for reading!


	14. The Twist

Sesshoumaru walked her into his home, and she was dumbfounded. It was a modern version of a Honmune style home, made with concrete and hardwood beams from what she could gather as they walked through the solid cement barrier between the street and house. The car they were in pulled around to a different gate so it could be parked, and they were welcomed by a man and woman who bowed as Sesshoumaru passed into the main receiving room. She slid her shoes off where he did and he motioned for her to follow him to the kitchen. For the size of his home, it was rather small, but she understood why when she realized how the house was styled on the land. She could see at least two more buildings attached to the main house that rounded a large rolling garden that was covered in trees. She could see all this from the sliding glass door. There was a specific path that followed into the larger deciduous trees into an unknown measure of the forest his home had been built around. 

She was staring out the glass when something warm was slid into her hands. Sesshoumaru had handed her a steaming cup of coffee, and was currently leaning against the counter where the press he had used was steaming, arms folded over his chest. Today’s outfit was a woven white medium length shirt that laced at the chest, comfortably loose with an excess tucked effortlessly into the front of worn, dark blue denim jeans. He looked at peace in his home. 

“Thank you.” She mumbled from the cup she couldn’t find it in herself to try, despite it’s sweet scent. He’d tempered it with cream, but her stomach rolling was just not up to the task of swallowing the tea he’d handed her. He was looking of into the garden where she had been, seemingly deep in thought. 

“I’ve been neglecting my writing, Kagome. Would you like to stay here while I finish one of my chapters?” He was still distracted with the garden, but slowly swung his head around to watch her. It still struck her as odd, seeing him dressing in modern clothing and using first person versus third. 

“I don’t want to bother you...” She answered, sitting one one of the stools at an island counter that had a sink and plenty of counter space for prep work. “I have my own work that needs to get done... Speaking of which...”

She peered at him, another new revelation dawning on her.

“My boss said your name. Your actual name. He knows you?” 

Sesshoumaru’s eye ticked, but he kept his face placid in a schooled expression she recognized much better as the old Sesshoumaru. 

“He does. I’ve been a benefactor at that Museum for a long time...” 

Kagome could feel irritation and word vomit rising up her throat. She wanted to get mad, but paused. 

“And you didn’t know it was me working there.” 

Sesshoumaru gave a light shrug. 

“The last four years have been dedicated to my writing and podcasting, especially in this last year when its done as well as it has. I knew a new curator started, but didn’t know it was you until you shared with me your profession..”

She leaned on the counter and set the mug aside, rubbing her aching temples and eyes. Her head hurt from crying, and was still spinning from the violence Danske visited on her office. As much as she would  _ love _ to be angry, she was exhausted and there was no way she was going to muster the energy to be pissed. 

“So the last few pieces from Danske’s dig site... Those were from you.”

He nodded wordlessly, hair shuffling off his shoulder. 

“And you are the benefactor for the dig site.” 

His upper lip twitched, but he said nothing, still nodding.

“So when I got kicked off the site... You had the power to restore me to the dig site... But you didn’t...” By now both of her hands were pressing into her eyes, hoping the pressure would relieve the urge to cry again. “You’re fucking with me.. God this has been the worst week of my life since ... Since... I don’t even know since when. Dare I ask for an explanation as to why you did it? Because I’m starting to think you couldn’t resist meddling after a certain point.”

Sesshoumaru’s long exhale had her looking up at him. 

“I was forced to remove you from the site to keep my identity secret for one, and two, because the liability insurance hadn’t provided provisions for caring for a visitor on site. The whelp did not clear it through the company, i.e. me, before he brought you. He was not released from our services because he knew you, and I trusted your intentions more than his.” His eyes shifted over her, then back garden. “The first is a moot point, but please understand my reasons.”

Kagome scrubbed at her eyes, and the scent of the tea finally coerced her into pulling the mug back and taking a sip. Sweet jasmine and lemon swirled in her mouth, a touch of chamomile at the end muted by the cream.

“It’s good.”

“I prefer it with a touch of honey myself.” 

She let the heat of the tea soak into her fingers, taking another long sip before setting the mug down. 

“I’m still mad. Shit, I’m so irritated I’m not really sure what to focus on, but sitting next to you, being in your presence still feels comfortable and reassuring. You have a lot of making up to do for lying to me about yourself.” Her eyes met his. “But I suppose there is no better place to be than beside you while I learn who you are, nowadays.”

He chuckled, then stood straight. 

“You are welcome to join me in my writer’s den. As I recall, we requested a full report regarding the recent findings at the dig site so they may be made public for study.” 

Kagome’s mood shifted from sullen to surprised, then irritated again.

“You’re lucky I like this tea.” She pointed at the mug, brows raised and glare scathing. “Fine. But I need to collect some things from the -” 

“Tell me what you need, and I will have Sosuke deliver it to the house.” He answered, unfolding and turning back to pull another mug from out of the cupboard as well as the honey from a small shelf. He poured himself some tea from the pot on the stove top, stirring a spoonful of honey in before taking a sip and sighing. He tilted his head for her to follow him as he went out the door in a pair of slippers, offering her a pair as well as they walked over a gravel path that changed to shredded bark going straight through the massive trees that they had built around. If anything were to happen to such trees, the entire estate would be completely destroyed. She could feel their age as she passed under them, through the tiny forest preserved in Sesshoumaru’s homely compound. They came to the other end, a small cozy home in the same style that was pleasantly walled in by massive timbers held in place by concrete towers in a reminiscent fashion of the old castle walls, but made of wood instead of stone. Sesshoumaru took a sip of his tea, his stride unhindered as the double doors to the smaller house opened for him. She followed, noticing no attendants in the home, but when she turned to close the door, they were already swinging shut behind her. Her host was padding off into a room on the right, and Kagome was left to look around the cozy sitting room in awe. While the house was cozy looking on the outside, and almost small, stairs leading into the sitting room gave it cathedral ceilings. On the far wall to the right, was a large screened television. It was surrounded by floor to ceiling book shelves, filled with bound leather titles. The wall behind her as she entered the room was a stone wall with a fireplace and classical European style paintings, each more detailed and rich in color than the last of different figures and poses. 

To her left was another wall that went from floor to ceiling with books, but also a room leading off deeper into the house. The sitting room itself was another set of stairs down, and built into the ground. The couch itself was a dark, but warm tan color and the blonde wood that was used as flooring was down there as well, but covered with white fur rugs. The couch had small tables installed on each corner, made of pale lacquered wood, and looked like she could sink into them and sleep for the rest of her life. There were three sides to the couch, and at least four small tables. Some in the corners had smaller books stacked, some parted. There was a throw carelessly slinking on the floor off the couch, and more books were scattered on the cushions. Curious, Kagome carefully edged down the stairs into the main center of the room. Observing the books, she realized that the spines of the worn paperbacks were all harlequin novels. She covered her mouth as she giggled to herself. 

Well, that made sense, didn’t it? Especially given how the kind of things he was writing. Picking one up from where it had been lain, face open, she felt her cheeks warming. It had been put down in the middle of a hardcore S&M scene where the male character was currently tied up and the female was dominating him. She cleared her throat quietly, gently settling the book where she picked it up and memorized the title so she could pick up a copy for herself, if he was still using it as a reference. Looking around, she noticed a stair that lead up to a small loft, and she trailed aimlessly up the stairs, curious as she noticed more books that were not aged, but rather new and mostly paperback. She looked over them, realizing most of them were paperback, and upon further inspection, they were all paperback. Many were in English, some in Japanese, and a handful were in other languages including Korean and Arabic. 

Not only was Sesshoumaru well read, he was bilingual. That checked, if only because he had lived as long as he had, and certainly would have had the time to learn multiple languages, particularly if humans could do it within their lifetimes with no problems. 

“Kagome?”

His voice made her jump, if only because he was so close and she hadn’t sensed his oncoming presence. Turning she gave him a tight smile.

“Your library is delightful.”

He smirked, leaning on the banister of the loft with one hand. 

“I am aware. You liked my bigger library...” He paused, biting his lower lip and grinning again. Mischief filled colored his features as he crooked his finger. “Speaking of which, I do believe there is a gift for you to collect.”

Kagome followed his trail of devilry, curious as to its outcome as he led her into the room down the stairs and straight back to the other room where he disappeared earlier. It was a cream colored room with red woods for any of the furniture being used. There was one desk on the wall with a smattering of books between two large bronze dog bookends atop it, a few cubbies for paper and the like, and a laptop she recognized running. The wall had another two large slabs of wood, that clearly came down in their own workspaces. There was a large, heavy looking green leather bound book that he slid off the desk from beside the computer and handed to her. She realized that it was not canvas, but an excellent full page replica of every painting in the book Sesshoumaru claimed as his. There were a few more that she didn’t recognize from the first book, but had her just as flustered as the one at the end of the book. Those ones were sprinkled throughout the book, and all of them were either nudes, or nude self-portraits. 

“Right... I almost forgot...” she couldn’t help but laugh as she snapped the book shut in the middle. “First of all, thank you. Second... So...”

She thumbed through the book from the start and found the one that should have been the tip off that this was Sesshoumaru, especially the fact he’d been reading it in a massive library and recognized people she had adventured with. She found the one of what she clearly acknowledged was her and turned the book to him, as though to show him something newly discovered. Kagome saw the grin he schooled back into an impassive raised brow.

“Yes?”

“I remember this.”

“As do I, Kagome.” 

He was so nonchalant she could’ve smacked him. 

“You painted the first time.. My first time being...”

  
“Enjoying cunnilingus? Yes. You seem to forget how ravishing you are when you cum.” His voice grew husky as his eyes softened at the memories flowing between the two of them. The flush in her cheeks deepened as did the stifling heat of the room. 

“You didn’t think that maybe I wouldn’t appreciate you using my likeness in a painting?” She snapped half-heartedly.

His countenance was far off as he answered. 

“I wasn’t sure I would ever find you before I died. It was a memory that was a lasting one, a regret I wished to memorialize in paint. You were beautiful, and I was left wanting when you vanished unexpectedly. Forgive me if it chafes you, but it is a memory I hold in high esteem.”

Kagome’s irritation died down in the wake of the shake of regret. She looked away as she closed the book softly.

“Not gonna lie, it’s one that I cherished too.”

“I put a call into Sosuke. He is faxing some of the paperwork required to do the report you collected and photos of the scroll. I do believe I have a copy of it written down somewhere... Do you have a drive you can access from any computer to continue your work? Or shall we get your working computer?”

Kagome smiled and shrugged. 

“I have a cloud drive that shares information with work so I can work from home if it happens I get sick unexpectedly.”

Sesshoumaru nodded, and pulled open one of the drawers, lifting a thin laptop from inside and handing it to her. His bare feet padded out to the main sitting room again and he adjusted the tables for her before placing the laptop on one of them, the gesturing for her to sit. 

“I will have more tea made. Are you hungry? I noticed the coffee, but nothing else.”

Kagome shook her head. 

“I think I’ll be fine with some tea.”

“Wireless is set up throughout the home, and that computer should be connected automatically. Let me know if you come across any problems. I will be in my office,” he pointed to the room they had just exited, “should you require anything.”

Kagome nodded again and opened the slim silver laptop and managed to find everything within five minutes. Her work station being as mobile as it was, was a wonderful blessing. She logged in under her user name and looked over what she currently had, then began tapping out edits as she reread the research paper she was working on. So ingrained with her work she was, that when Sesshoumaru plodded out with more papers from his office, she merely held her hand out for them and didn’t look up from her work. He left her to it, not saying a word as he retreated to her office, and a sense of peaceful, working determination to finish her tasks. 

It was around an hour later that the gentle clatter of porcelain and motion had her looking up. An older gentleman, tall and stately, was setting up a small tea service on a table she realized had to have been brought in. There was a woman serving beside him, holding a tray that the older gentleman was drawing from, placing everything just so. It was mesmerizing to watch. Finally, when the serving tray was emptied, both lined up perfectly, bowed in unison, and the older gentleman stood straight.

“Lady Higurashi, tea is served.” 

They both bowed in unison again, and while the woman took her leave, the stately man entered Sesshoumaru’s study. A few moments later, Sesshoumaru was following the man out and coming to sit a bit away from her, serving himself tea as his attendant excused himself. 

“Thank you.”

“It is my pleasure. How goes work?” 

“More productive than usual.” She admitted. “The silence isn’t something I’m very accustomed to working in, so when it happens I get more done when nothing is distracting me.”

He chuckled and raised a deep brown cup to his lips, sipping.

“Indeed.”

“What about you?”

Sesshoumaru sighed.

“I am struggling. Unfortunately, with my muse so close to me, its hard to write plot when I’m thinking about pleasure.” His rumbling tone still held a note of disapproval as his eyes slid over to her, full of mischief. She scowled at him to hide her responding smile. 

“Now Sesshoumaru, I only agreed to work here because I thought you would be okay to work with me here.” Kagome rose, pushing the small table with the laptop away from her as though she were making a move to leave and couldn’t help the unlady like snort laugh that she loosed when he managed not to spill his tea and snatch her back onto the couch. 

“Fine, but I’m only staying for the tea.” She snickered. Sesshoumaru’s brow plucked at her despite his relaxed demeanor on the couch. Serving herself, she sighed at the beautiful sweet blend filling her mouth. 

“So I’m almost done with the report you wanted, Boss-sama.” She stated matter-of-factly, sipping her tea. “Though I’m sure everything in it is something you already know. This is only on the scroll though, I couldn’t really include anything from the dig site. You know. Since I wasn’t actually officially invited there as a guest to study.” 

Sesshoumaru had stopped sipping tea to settle the cup on the couch. 

“Then as the site director and benefactor, I extend an official written invitation.” He pursed his lips, then took another sip of tea. “Not.. in my hand, but it will be.”

Kagome almost spit her tea, but managed to choke it back. Sesshoumaru of this era was.. Surprisingly human. There were spits of time when he clearly wasn’t, and his power stroked her in the ways of the old days, but here he was just as absent minded as most people with a full plate. 

“That still doesn’t take out the fact I need to go to confirm coordinates, take a few notes, really study the site so I can get even half of an idea of where everything was.. This is a much larger project than I thought actually...” Staring off into the distance, distracted by how she should approach such a large thesis project, she drifted off into planning what stages should be noted first.

“You realize there is an entire team of people assigned to produce the information as its found...?” 

“Eh..?” Her gaze snapped back to Sesshoumaru, who glanced over her as he drank his tea with a humored expression. 

_ Right... _ She’d seen the entire team before. Of course she wouldn’t even have to go to the site to collect the information; it could just be produced and sent to her. Hiding her disappointment and failing, she pulled her little desk closer and attempted to finish the last pieces of her thesis before saving and sending the finished product to Sosuke for review before publishing it officially on the Museum’s website. 

“Did Sosuke send me anything else to work on? The report for the scroll was just sent off.”

Sesshoumaru finished his tea and rose, rising and moving up the stairs and around the couch to the other room she hadn’t seen yet. When he came back, both hands held cases Kagome was keenly familiar with - they were the cases the benefactor sent that felt like Christmas presents. Her heart jumped and she did too, nearly knocking the computer off of its perch on the small table.

“What.. Did you bring me...” She wasn’t sure if there were sparkles in her eyes, or if he could tell she was practically vibrating with excitement, but she didn’t care as he set the first one before her. Then she realized - 

“I don’t have my gloves to inspect it...” True despair flooded her as her hands rested on the locks. Sesshoumaru frowned at her.

“Gloves?”

“My examination gloves. They keep me from contaminating the piece with any bodily oils, skin, or other microscopic debris that could corrupt a piece of history like what you send me.”

Sesshoumaru was already opening the case, shaking his head. Kagome protested, wishing she had the strength to stop him, then sighed.

“I guess you’re a relic too, so it would be normal for your micro corruptions to be on some off this stuff.”

“Excuse me, Miko?” Sesshoumaru had stopped, the case  _ thunking _ closed. “Did you just.... Dare I say you characterized me as... old?”

It wasn’t necessarily the words out of his mouth that made her hide her mouth with both hands as a grin and laughter began to erupt from her. It was the look of absolute incredulity that covered his features and marked his body language that had her snorting behind her hands. He seemed at a loss for what to do with her until he finally moved, snatching her up by the waist and carrying her away from the expensive, irreplaceable artifacts and computers to plop her in an unruly heap on an unburdened section of the large couch. Kagome squealed through her laughter and Sesshoumaru took it upon himself to poke at her until she was screaming with laughter, pleading with him to stop between apologies, which he finally accepted... Until..

“Even if its true..” spilled from her breathless panting.

He gave a roar and began his torment all over again until she was sure she would pee herself laughing as she begged him to stop. He did finally cease, kneeling before the couch where she was splayed from his tickling, resting his chin on his forearms. She propped herself up on her elbows as she caught her breath. Warmth flooded her chest at his contented comportment. His forearms were resting on her thighs, his gaze was warm. Kagome let herself reach out and play with an errant strand of silver, rubbing the silky pieces between her fingers.

“You are too much for me, Lord of the West.” She sighed finally, releasing his hair and falling back onto the back of the couch cushions. “And PLEASE, even if your age outpaces the archeology - ” he gave her sensitive sides another vicious poke that sent her giggling again. “Don’t handle those things without gloves. I can get another pair for you.”

“Very well.” he acquiesced.

“Just tell me what you found.” 

Sesshoumaru was pensive for a moment before she realized his claw was running barely there patterns over her worn jeans. 

“One is a vase with a residue in it that smells vaguely familiar. It was small in size, and had to be sealed so the scent wasn’t reactivated, if there is an activating agent in it.”

Kagome’s face crumpled in concentration.

“You know, Sango did use a kind of demon repellent that had almost an overwhelming sickly sweet scent. Like bile and something else...” 

“This would explain the pot. Perhaps it contained the remnants of the repellent. Though, it was only a remnant of the scent. The clay was not saturated in it, so it is assumed that they were being made as pods.”

A thought occurred to Kagome.

“Y’know... You sound awfully uninformed for a demon traveling in an era where there is no doubt in my mind you were attacked by slayers at some point.” 

He shrugged on her lap.

“I was. It was never much of a fight, therefore never warranted study.”

Kagome tilted her head. 

“So why put so much energy into studying their life?”

“I happened upon the building in the mountains one day. I was unaware of its existence until then. As I have mentioned before, I am attempting to preserve as much of history back then as can be managed. This was a very rare find, and most in this era believe it to be plot devices for interesting books.”

Kagome hummed, lost in thought. 

Truthfully, this has been a nice foray into some of what was clearly a busy life for Sesshoumaru. Surely she hadn’t seen all of it. There were other things he was dedicating his life to beyond his interest in preserving history, and while today had been peaceful, she was fully expecting to have a flurry of activity bluster in any second to remind her just what a side path she was in his life. He rose and stretched from his place on the floor when his phone vibrated. 

“Excuse me.” 

With that he padded back into his office to answer his phone. Kagome watched his retreating form and continued to wonder on this new place she suddenly found herself in. With Danske, she knew he made time for her. It was unseen if that was how all relationships were, and one with a Daiyoukai in the modern era seemed like it was uncharted territory. The waters seemed precarious with unknowns monsters and shoals, and while Kagome enjoyed a challenge, she was enjoying familiar territory as well. While Sesshoumaru’s traditionalism leaked into his current modern life, there was still so much she knew nothing about him.

She fought the desire to be frustrated and sat up, stretching her back before going to check her email for anything else Sosuke needed help with today. 

_ “YOU said what you needed to say! I don’t even know what the fuck to say! Just... Stay the fuck away from me in the future, Kagome. I can’t promise I’ll be all business for a while. I just don’t know how long that’s going to be. This was a bad idea.”  _

_ He shook his head and stormed out, slamming the door shut behind him. _

__

The sudden unbidden memory of todays events slammed over her again. Her stomach lurched. Here she was trying to find her feet on shaky new ground like a new born fawn, and there was still a mountain of unresolved bullshit to wade through sitting before her. What if Danske decided to make her life miserable? They were still technically working partners, and while his company was employed by Sesshoumaru, what if he decided to try and destroy the newly discovered castle site out of spite? What if he couldn’t control his anger, and came for her again? She shook her head. Surely, one of the things she’d learned about the level headed digger was that vengeance never suited him. He’d said so himself when they were testing the waters for the possibility of dating. 

That being said, Kagome had never really bothered to ask about any of his previous relationships. All the information she knew had to do with how he felt in the now, and it never drifted past a personal opinion versus a personal experience, so there was no baseline to determine how he would react if their relationship ended. And then it hit her - maybe she didn’t know Danske as well as she thought she did. Everything being assumed or offered as an opinion didn’t make for much of a personal relationship. The fact he barely skirted around being dumped in the first place should have been a bit of a warning sign that he wasn’t really ready to have hard conversations. 

Sesshoumaru had been one hard conversation after another. At this point, she was pretty sure she could ask him anything and he’d be forthcoming no matter what. He’d been found out. Hiding anything else would be an automatic rejection from her (along with the purifying of a lifetime, one that would end the lives of any demon careless enough to get caught in between), and he knew it. Secrets were no longer an option for the demon lord if he intended to get to know her. That wasn’t the case for Danske. 

Kagome worried her lower lip and tried to tamp down the anxiety flooding her. He hadn’t said much in the office, and what he had said was accusing... and accurate to a point. Her heart fluttered bitterly. The person he’d described was not the person she wanted to be. It was why she’d called him to the office in the first place, wanting to apologize. As she reflected, it stood to reason that maybe it was a completely selfish request, having invited him to the office to apologize. Was it really the way to move on from Danske? 

Kagome vigorously rubbed at her eyes. This anxiety, bitterness, upset was not leaving her alone, and while even she knew it was a bad idea to be alone in this sea of malcontent, perhaps she needed to work through these things on her own. Somehow, it felt like Sesshoumaru would just try to assuage restlessness, and she wasn’t really in the mood to hear a half-hearted defense of her malodorous actions that ultimately ended in his success. Suddenly, the tea still steaming on the table set up didn’t smell so sweet. Kagome closed all the tabs of the laptop before rising to leave the building. 

The second she opened the door and stepped out into the clearing air, she felt less stifled. 

“Are you well, Kagome?” 

She started at his sudden presence and turned, hands fisted.

“I’m fine. I need a little bit of time alone right now though. I’ll be back inside in a minute.” She assured him. He studied her, his still live phone down at his side before he decided to turn and leave her to herself.

“Let us know if there is something we can do to further your comfort.”

She nodded like he could see him as the door closed on his back and felt foolish for not verbally answering. Turning back around, she stepped off the concrete and onto the mulch path that lead back into the small forest between the main house and the back one. It felt right here, airier. Even the breeze shuffling the branches of the massive trees was crisper somehow. She stepped off the mulch path into the plants, carefully stepping so she wouldn’t disturb anything growing and found a root to settle on comfortably. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and began to try emptying her mind. 

‘How rich...’ 

Kagome nearly jumped out of her skin at the sudden appearance of a voice, searching the surrounding area for its source. She found nothing, not even a trace of presence that told her otherwise. 

‘You are not but a whore, trying to rationalize being a whore...’

She swallowed, brows furrowed trying desperately to figure out where the fuck the garbling voice was coming from. It wasn’t human. It was clearly demon. 

‘What makes this all the more entertaining is that it should come from a priestess..’

“Where are you? Show yourself!” She hissed. There was a rocky chuckle. 

‘Sullying yourself with the likes of a demon lord makes my presence all the more powerful in you.’ the voice cackled to her. ‘Until the strength I lost over the centuries is regained, I may rest comfortably in you. If memory serves, that is Lord Sesshoumaru you dally with.’

Kagome’s knees wobbled under her as her mind raced to figure out what was happening to herself, even as the voice continued to torment her with its laughter and insistence she’d never understand, never rise above this, and in turn it would wreck every relationship she had because of this indiscretion. She stumbled back to the house, the hope for peace completely ruined by whatever voice in her head was sneering at her. Upon entering Sesshoumaru’s abode, however, the voice drew back and was silent. She looked around the room, bewildered and scared before glancing back at the door. What in the fuck was that?

~*~

Sesshoumaru was getting nowhere fast as he sat at his desk. Kagome was a distraction. While she was a welcome preoccupation, this didn’t change the fact that he was having trouble focusing on how to finish out the chapters following Korra’s sexual interaction with Desmond. All of them seemed to be unfocused hurried draws to an ending that didn’t make much sense, felt rushed, and now that the tension had abated with the fulfillment of the characters there didn’t seem to be anywhere to go. That in itself could be a struggle, Sesshoumaru reasoned. He sat in tenuous silence as he considered the new routes to take while the back of his mind was running numbers regarding the pub that had recently opened back up. 

Aniah had called to let him know he was a motherfucker for giving her a managerial position, and to demote her from being shift lead immediately. He had countered with her that she had her finagling nature to thank for her new position, and if she didn’t want a promotion she should have kept to tending bar versus meddling in lives. He could tell the jab had hurt her feelings, and there was a prickling of conscious following the statement, but he wasn’t wrong. There had been no take-backs between them, and he wasn’t about to start now. There had been the briefest silence between them before she finally spoke.

_ “You can’t tell me what I did was meddling - I just sped up your ancient process and cut out the rest of the idiots you woulda had to wade through to get what you wanted. You were being indecisive even though you knew what you wanted... Call me a meddler all you want, but I’ll be damned if I stand here and let you call me a bad friend over  _ this _. Fuck both of you.” _

__

She had hung up, and the prickling was a full on nagging in his stomach that he should apologize to her. Where it was annoying she’d taken things into her own hands, she wasn’t wrong. If left up to him, he would have pussy-footed around the issue, and there was no guarantee that if it hadn’t worked out with Danske, there wouldn’t be someone else right behind him to take his place as a suitor. Her statement was ending in self-reflection. How much had he really changed since Kagome had known him back then? Was this something that would matter down the road? 

His gut twisted, surprisingly beyond his ability to control it. What should happen if Kagome didn’t like the creature he had become. If he recalled correctly, she knew him as a wild beast with an iron sense of self-control that was only matched by the consequences of trying his temper. To have become a tamed version of himself from back then... Felt like robbing her of a partner that she may have preferred. It was moments of self-doubt like this that rattled Sesshoumaru. He had never left a partner wanting being who he was, but for some oddity there was a pressure to be who Kagome hoped he was. She didn’t seem bothered by him, and her indifference to him while she worked was refreshing. But the what ifs were beginning to bother him. 

He sighed, sitting back in his chair and running his claws through his white hair. The unknowable scenarios clouding him was fucking with his writing, and he knew it. The idea that he couldn’t figure out how Kagome saw him beyond a fleeting moment of sexual gratification spilled into his writing, just as Nina had warned him would happen. The cub was beyond her years in emotional intelligence, he groused. Even her prediction about Kagome being upset, while tempered in how Nina had worded it, had come to be correct. Perhaps... She would be able to shed more light where he was unable to. The heavy wooden door swung open and shut rather quickly, and Kagome’s scent wafted into the back room. 

She smelled of sweat and worry, which bothered Sesshoumaru. He rose and didn’t see her in the sitting room. When he rounded the hall, he saw she had her back pressed to the wood, gripping at it like a life raft. Her face was blanched, eyes wide as sweat dripped down her temples trying to sort something out he didn’t know about, and when she came away and turned, staring behind her like she had just walked out of a nightmare, he frowned. 

“Kagome?”

Her head twisted around, anxiety flushing through her scent now.

“What?” 

Her tone was defensive. 

“Is something amiss?”

“No. No I just.. I’m not sure. Nothing with you, I think its all in my head. I thought I heard something.” She mumbled to herself, brows creased. She looked up. “I have a few things still to finish at home. The repair guy was supposed to be there tomorrow, so, uh... I should probably go home soonish.”

“I can have the car brought around. Shall I escort you home? You may have use of my car if you need it.”

“Yeah. I think that would be best.” She answered, still distracted from whatever had frightened her outside. Curiosity consumed him and he stepped past her and opened the door. Fresh air flooded the breezeway, the day was bright albeit cool, but nothing smelled fallacious. What she was upset about was a mystery to him. His gaze fell on her again, and she still wasn’t looking at him. Instead, her thumbnail was being worried between her lips, teeth nipping at the edge of it while she looked off into space.

“Are you certain you’re okay?”

“Yes.” She snapped irritably. “I’m fine. It’s nothing.” 

Sesshoumaru’s eyes narrowed and she huffed.

“I need to go home. Please, if you could get me your car I would appreciate it.” Her tone was finally sure as was the rest of her, and she was edging past him to leave when he caught her forearm.

“Kagome, you would tell me if I did something that did not meet with your approval, yes?” She seemed to be irritated at being hampered by him, but shrugged.

“I would. Why do you think something is off?” She asked warily. He paused in his answer. Somehow, telling her she looked like she’d seen a ghost, that she was beginning to stink of confusion, fear, and sweat didn’t seem like it would be met with a positive answer, so he held back.

“It’s nothing. Saitama and I will escort you to the front. The driver will take you home.”

They walked out the door, abandoning the idea of looking at the newly collected artifacts for the day. Sesshoumaru couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong, and the more Kagome chewed on her nails, the more the sinking feeling developed. 

“Call me if you need something?”

Kagome paused, looking around then meeting his gaze with her own worried one. 

“Yeah. Thank you for today. I know this is kinda sudden, but I’ll let you know if I need something.” She answered softly, folding her hands together. “Today started off pretty awful, but I appreciate you coming by to help me normalize things. I feel better.”

He paused her before she turned to get into the car, fingers weaving into her hair and pressing a soft kiss into her forehead. The doubt and worry in her eyes abated a bit, and relief swept through him. Turning, she got into the car, and the driver took her away. Sesshoumaru watched until they rounded a corner and his eyes could no longer follow. Something had rattled the priestess, and he couldn’t figure out what it was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ladies and Gentlemen, your loyal servant has returned, wooden but well rested from hiatus. Thank you for your everlasting patience, may this rest yield blessed fruit for all to enjoy!   
> As always, I thank you for the reviews, Sakura_the_red_panda, SeleneWolf, MoniqueFrost, mis_interpret, milomai19, unseeminglyvicious, and Emari1522


	15. Fables and Stories

There was nothing left to do but to sound retreat. The way he eyed her on her way out gave her pause. Maybe if she told him what she’d heard? She shook her head as she crested each step to the apartment. She felt crazy enough experiencing whatever this was. There was a bitter unsettling in her stomach, and the unreasonable paranoia that was building in her with the voice made her wonder if regular life, trying to be normal, was a step beyond what she, the Shikon Priestess of the Feudal and Modern Era, could attain. She wondered a billion things all at the same time, and almost ran right into her door as she tried to sort herself to avoid the rising panic in the back of her throat. 

When she was safely inside, she sat heavily on the couch and blinked. Slowing her thoughts, breathing deep, she tried to reassess what she’d remembered.. Most of it was awful, degrading, bullshittery that she had been thinking about herself, and was managing to pull away from because of how gruesomely appalling it wounded. If such things had come out of anyone’s mouth, Kagome would have fought them even if it meant losing the fight. But one statement from the voice, which she couldn’t tell was inside of her or outside, gave her pause.

_ ‘Sullying yourself with the likes of a demon lord makes my presence all the more powerful in you.’ the voice cackled to her. ‘Until the strength I lost over the centuries is regained, I may rest comfortably in you. If memory serves, that is Lord Sesshoumaru you dally with.’ _

__

Resting comfortably, Kagome took a deep breath before moving off the couch, trying not to shiver at the ideas floating through her head. She sat in the waning light of day, hoping perhaps a little meditation as she poked around herself would answer her own question. Sitting in lotus, she placed her sweating palms face down on her knees and swallowed, took another deep breath, and closed her eyes. Silencing a racing mind was a challenge. Working through the fear, trying to quell it the way Miroku taught her when she was afraid, was far harder without someone there to guide her through her mind. She tucked away as many of the intrusive thoughts as she could, quietly reminding them in the grand scheme of life, she was a grain of sand on the beach, in a desert of sand. Things slowly, gently quieted behind her eyes, and she could feel the warmth of the sun beginning to fade...

And a cool hand creeping up the back of her spine. Seeing her body in her minds eye was frightening as a thin, crooked hand crept up her back as slowly as the sun set, and she could do nothing but watch as it crawled over her. 

_ This is it... This feeling.. I’ll know if its just me if this feeling goes away on its own.. _

How gruesomely wrong she was. 

Kagome had been to a number beaches, and only once had she ever been rolled by a wave. This was exactly how the oncoming presence felt. It barreled through her mercilessly. She could feel herself shaking as she let whatever was happening, happen. Facing her, in the dark recesses of her mind, was a monster. Stark against the blackness stood a towering gray figure that was spindly and crooked like the unseen hand crawling up her back. It stared back with milky eyes and a malicious grin of sharp, ripping teeth that vaguely reminded her of a shark.

‘We meet, oh self-righteous bitch of the Western Demon Lord.’

Its voice was as grating, like the sound of metal dragging along metal. 

‘What are you...’ Kagome trembled. 

‘There is no name I call myself, but that which you silly beasts of burden call me is jikininki.’

She’d heard that name before. 

‘What do you want?’ Kagome asked hesitantly.

‘Your moving body. Your biting teeth. Your human facade. Even your power in taint if I must.’

It moved no closer to her, keeping its distance as it swayed in the darkness, the foul flesh tendrils undulating with the motion. 

_ How did this thing even get here? _ She wondered.

‘You act as though you have never seen us before, bitch.’ The creature snickered. A creaking, gangly arm rose as it pointed. ‘We have been with you since then. We have seen all of the things a dishonest whore priestess bitch does. Serving vigorously under the dog, and the true nature of a bitch’s intentions toward her alpha. Silly bitch, nothing is hidden from us.’

The more Kagome looked on the pitifully ugly mass before her, the less frightened she grew, and the more irritated she became being called a bitch.  _ Wait... _ Kagome’s eyes widened.  _ It heard my thoughts! _

Panic flooded her, even as she had already acknowledged whatever she was hearing was, in fact, inside of her. There had been the briefest hope that perhaps, even in her private thoughts she would be able to plan in safety. The jikininki laughed a creaking, metallic sound and lowered its accusatory hand. 

‘Yes, now you see. I am you. You are I. We are in the same place. The only disadvantage is our lack of control. Do not fret, silly little bitch. I will have your body the longer you entertain your selfishness. Then we may do so in unison. We will feast on those humans and their juicy flesh. Cavort! Ruin lives! Indulge until you are gluttonous. We are here. We are waiting.’

Kagome fought the tremors in her. She could feel cooling perspiration on her brow, throughout her body, dripping unsettling over her. Kagome fought to open her eyes, fought not to be sick and scared about the possibility of the jikininki materializing in the physical world to frighten into madness, and after what felt like hours of trudging through sludgy quicksand, she opened her eyes with a gasp. 

Shivering violently, she struggled to get up in the dark of her apartment like a newborn fawn. The echoing of the jikininki’s laughter filled her apartment as it bounced off every room. When she finally made it to bed, even wrapping a pillow around her ears did not stop its grinding sound, and tears slipped down her face. It was going to be a long night.

*

Kagome had blessedly been allowed to sleep through the rest of the night, but was plagued by more insults and downtrodding as she made her way into work with one goal in mind: Researching the jikininki. Upon entering her office she couldn’t help but stop in the door frame. Everything was a little too lean, especially with the way it had been left the day before. All the paper had been cleaned off the floor, the trash had been removed and cleaned of all the coffee. Even the little pink box of pastries Danske had brought for.... Kagome shut her eyes and opened them again. It was gone. So was Danske. She was going to get through this. Moving forward, she took a deep breath and commanded herself to take possession of this room. It wasn’t for bad memories - it was for her to work in, make discoveries in, appreciate history in.

‘Such a solid surface could be tasked in rigorous memory making with the Western Cur, as well.’

Kagome frowned despite herself. 

She was honestly unsure if the jikininki wasn’t just her own psyche, splitting off into villainous personality to shield her from the mistakes she was making. It wasn’t unheard of for someone like her, who prized honesty and loyalty to treat being caught doing something one would never have normally considered an option akin to trauma in the brain.

‘Logic all you want, tiresome bitch; it matters not to me. It would benefit to fool yourself into believing I am you. Your body being claimed over such indecisive foolishness would be a victory paraded for years to come.’ the jikininki crowed. 

Kagome took another cleansing breath and went to the desk, pulling her laptop open and began researching. She was just about to click a reputable page when Sosuke’s head popped in. 

“Miss Kagome! I was not expecting to see you so soon!” He came to stand in the doorframe. “That’s not to say you are unwelcome, but our benefactor told me it may be a while before I see you in person, and that he was hiring you to do some work while keeping up with the museum.”

Kagome shook her head.

“If he had that intention, he didn’t make it clear.”

‘Another lie, the Western Cur tells. Silly bitch...’ the voice cackled.

“I have a question for you, Sosuke.” 

He nodded and came to sit at the word wooden chair in front of her desk.

“Have you ever heard of a jikininki?”

The older man stroked his rotund face as he contemplated, pausing to clean his monocle with a huff of warm breath before it dawned on him.

“Ah! Yes. It’s an old ghost story told amongst the religious sect.” He made a muffled noise as he ruminated. “It was a story used to warn off greedy monks or shrine maidens about what would happen to them if their soul focus was on money. How the devil.. did that.. story go...?” 

He made some more puffed portly noises. 

“I believe the story goes.. There was a traveling priest named.. Muso! That was the fellow’s name. Muso was lost traveling in the mountains when he came upon an old farming village looking for a place to stay when he came upon an inhabited anjitsu, which was worn and tattered with time. I believe Muso begged the current priests of the anjitsu for a place to stay, and was staunchly refused, instead directing him farther into the little farm village.”

Kagome listened with rapt attention. 

“Muso wandered down into the village, seeking refuge. The headman, while busy with a large group, agreed and put him up in a small room, ensuring he was fed as well. He was asleep when he was roused by weeping, and the headman opened his room to ask him to come away from the village they were in. The young man told him that they had just lost the head of his household, and the people in the home were paying their final respects. The villagers would then walk back to a different village that was not home, three miles away to an adjacent village, as strange things happened in this village after a death occurred, and that in order to remain safe by village law, no person was to stay at the village past midnight after a death, and that the Priest Muso should arise and go with them.”

Sosuke paused, grumbling a touch to clear his throat.

“Now. The Priest gave the young man thanks for his consideration and gratuitous nature of his host, as he had arrived tired and would have had trouble doing his priestly duties as such; but that he would choose to remain here, and still conduct a service in honor of the deceased. The young man was overjoyed, and thanked the priest, but left all the same. Muso did his duty as a priests, and went to the body where a tomyo was burning and all the customary offerings were set out. He did the service, and entered meditation as was customary. After several hours of quiet meditation, when the night was at its maddeningly quietest, a gaunt shapeless creature noiselessly entered the house. At this same time, Muso was pressed into silence, unable to move or speak as the entity crossed the threshold, lifting the dead body to its assumed mouth, and begin devouring the corpse, shroud and all from head to food.”

Kagome made a gagging noise, hand on her throat. Sosuke’s brows raised as he nodded.

“Indeed, indeed. Once the body was completely consumed, the thing moved on to the offerings, consuming anything left behind. With its meal completed, it left as quietly as it had come. In the morning, when the villagers came back to greet Priest Muso and none of them seemed surprised at the lack of the body. The head of the village was glad to see the priest still alive and well, and reiterated his original misgivings, and how when they did not leave the village after a death terrible things would befall thereafter. He asked if Priest Muso had seen what was taking the bodies and offerings. Muso in turn asked him if the priest on the hill did blessings at funerals, to which the head of the village, confused, insisted there was no priest living there nor had been for generations. Muso thanked them, inquired his bearings, and left for the anjitsu to see if there was indeed anyone there.”

It was beginning to feel like one of those campfire ghost stories. Torihada rose on her arms as she listened.

“The hermit living there expressed shame at being unable to host the Priest Muso, who insisted due to his direction he was led to a kind village who treated him accordingly and still thanked the hermit for pointing him to a generous place to sleep. The hermit responded in more shame, saying he was unable to play host to anyone, and confessed, he was the shape to which Muso had witnessed devouring the corpse and offerings, known now as a jikininki. He confessed to being a priest long ago, where people of the mountain used to bring corpses for miles to have their rite and blessing spoken over them, and how he as a priest before his death, had been more concerned with the fees and offerings given to him and would refuse to bless body if the fees had not been met. Due to his selfishness, upon dying, he was reborn as a jikininki. He pleaded with the priest to then perform a Segaki service to escape the horrifying existence as a jikininki.”

Kagome shuddered as Sosuke paused for dramatic effect.

“No sooner had the hermit uttered this, the anjitsu in which the Priest Muso was sitting in disappeared, along with the hermit. Instead of the wood flooring, Priest Muso found himself sitting in the grass before a go-rin-ishi, a tombstone for a passed priest.”

Sosuke pulled a pristine white handkerchief and dabbed at his forehead.

“It does seem more of a children’s ghost story, a cautionary tale if you will born of greedy priests of the time.” He mumbled. “But we know that storytelling is the way the world communicates for many different things, be them to express morality or to spread legends. I believe the original author of the story was Ueda Akinari, but I know there are a few different versions. Perhaps check the Library of Souls? Surely you’ll find the texts there.”

Kagome balked at Sosuke.  
“You know about the Library of Souls?”

He huffed.

“Every scholar of Japanese spiritualism knows! Good heavens, Miss Kagome. You’d think I never studied archaeology at all with being surprised at such.” 

Kagome tried to temper her surprise, but decided perhaps it was a good gambit.

  
“Thanks Sosuke.” She said, rising.

“Now hold a moment! Whatever in the world brought jikininki up?” 

Kagome paused, puzzled as to how to word this. 

“I think it has something to do with our current find. There were some new things brought up recently that points to this being one of the demons used to make whatever the demon slayers were working on. I’ll let you know.” 

There. She’d tiptoed around it enough not to spill that she may be dealing with one directly, and Sosuke seemed placated. 

“Hmf. Very well. Do let us know. If it ties to a manuscript produced in the 1700s, it would be well worth the footwork!”

She nodded, and pulled her phone out to dial the number Sesshoumaru had sent her off with for the driver, whom had been kind enough to drop her off at work not but a few minutes ago. She was pleasantly surprised that the driver was nearby and would be ready in moments. Kagome met him at the door, and chewed her lower lip as she was seated and requested the Library of Souls as her destination. Opening her wallet, the little golden card she’d been handed to enter the library at her discretion felt cold as it flipped between her nervous fingers. They arrived at the library sooner than expected, and Kagome was still awed at the magnificence of the building. The doors parted for her and she was in the atrium with the large desk and two massive wooden doors. There, at the center, sat Jaken. 

His pudgy little claws were folded before him as he appraised her entrance dismissive. 

“Welcome back to the Library of Souls, you silly insignificant human. It is Lord Sesshoumaru’s missive to let you in as you please -” His familiar squawk began, “However I, Jaken, have been charged with the safekeeping of these scrolls and this knowledge. Please mind your power. Keep yourself in check. No Food, Drink, Smoking or Fire of any kind is allowed in here.” 

His piercing beady eyes as he scowled at her did not have the effect he thought it was - she was delighted to see him and couldn’t keep it off her face.

“If you weren’t sitting up behind that desk, I’d be tempted to give you a big ol’ bear hug!” She said with a soft smile. He sneered before preening. 

“No such luck. Go inside. The sooner you’re in the sooner you’re out.” he huffed.

“Thank you Jaken.” 

The little green demon gave a disgruntled huff, but ignored her in favor a paper that he looked rather comical behind when he raised it, only his stubby green fingers poking out. For a moment, as the great wooden doors swung open, she had forgotten why she was here. The magnanimous rows and rows of books overwhelmed her once more, and she inhaled before entering. 

“Jaken, how will I find what I’m looking for if its something specific?”

A flutter of paper sounded, and a thick pamphlet was tossed over the large paper. It landed with a heavy flap on the floor and upon closer inspection after picking it up, saw that it was a reference map for the library. She entered the large double doors, trailing her finger over the route towards what seemed like it would fit best. 

~*~

Sesshoumaru stretched. After Kagome’s departure, he had taken to staring at the screen of his work computer for long periods. It was obnoxious, the creative process. In all his time learning new hobbies, the one that he had the most struggle with was anything requiring such careful consideration before executing. The reality was, planning a war was less stressful than assuming the emotional personality of fictional characters. At least reveling in the demise of his enemies with maneuvering a brutal takeover that left next to nobody alive was a quick way to satisfy a violent itch. Writing was never so simple. 

Running fingers over his tired face as he reread the last sentence he read for god knows what time, he stood. The word document before him was laughing, fiendishly so. Perhaps a walk was in order. Night had fallen and the stars beneath his sanctum were always bright. The doors to his work house opened for him as he removed his shoes at the concrete entryway so he could pad through the forest barefoot. The first step was the most freeing, every time. 

Blades of grass and the like cool between his feet before he felt the sturdy connection to the earth was liberating. His eyes slid shut as he let the natural network of the earth ran unfettered through his being. The energy was cleaner under the massive trees he’d had his architects build to protect. His home projects as the years had come flying past him had changed along with the nature of his desire to protect what once was. There was a gratitude he shared with the old world, and he would protect it fiercely, including the old woods that whispered its secrets to him as much as the artifacts found in a dig site. These massive giants were living witness to the changes of the world. Goshiboku, having stood as long as it had at the Higurashi shrine in Tokyo fell under a grant that aided in its protection. So long as he lived, and his fortune was available to it, there would always be money to keep it safe, healthy, and professionals of the highest order checking on the grounds to ensure their sacredness.

Sesshoumaru had slowly, unknowingly made his way to the center of the massive cluster of trees. The purity of this place, the natural beauty belonging to the ages had him yearning to transform. His self discipline gave him pause - there were things planted here recently to aid in the household functions and kitchen. If he were to become his true nature, he would surely ruin the new plants. Sighing, he pushed down the deep desires and instead leaned against one of the larger trees. His fingers splayed over it’s surface, forehead touching the bark and a deep inhale of red wood that soothed his frustration. Checking his surroundings, feeling no intruders and scenting no interlopers, he let himself fall back into the nearest patch of dirt, looking up through the branches impassively as he watched the stars blink. 

Somehow, he’d fallen asleep and didn’t realize it until he woke beneath the trees. He unfolded his arms from behind his head and pushed himself up, stretching his limbs until they popped pleasantly. Sleeping under the stars was something he hadn’t done in a very long time. It was refreshing. He nodded to himself, pleased with his rested nature, and returned to his work house. Jaken was tittering at the door, pacing back and forth when he stepped out of the forest.

“My Lord! You’ve been missing all night! Wherever have you been? I have news of the Higurashi woman! And something else, my Lord! Please, we require an audience!”

All of the peace accumulating in the forest of his home was slowly evaporating as a thrum of displeasure chorded through the back of his head. 

“What?” He snapped irritably at the chattering green imp. 

“The Higurashi woman was in the library last night. I only know one or two of the volumes she checked, and I do not know how they apply to the research of the artifacts found in the castle.”

“Oh?” He inquired, stepping over the threshold of his work home, a wave of warmth melting the chill from sleeping outside. 

“She was researching the jikininki, my lord.” The imp said nervously, following as he twisted his clawed fingers together. Sesshoumaru paused, mouth pursing unpleasantly. Jikininki? That was a creature he hadn’t heard in a long time. What the hell was she doing looking into such spirits and what in the world was their relevance to what they were currently working on in the way of artifacts? 

“Also, my lord...” This time, Jaken was truly hesitant. There were only a handful of things that the little green imp knew better than to bring up in presence and garnered such deliberation. “Lady Adel Masika was demanding an audience in your absence yesterday...” 

_ Fuck. _

The name brought about both enchanting and abominable memories. Dark, kohl lined brown eyes that were as deep as Kagome’s doe browns and full of far more mystery, ever changing hair, expressive brows, full pouting mouth, and a body created by the gods themselves who delighted in her being alive to torment him. 

*

Ten Years Ago

_ Sesshoumaru was a welcome guest at the prince’s home, one of many low level Arab crowns. Being merely an invited guest at a large party due to his oddities and financial status, he stood in a bustling crowd of humans drinking the man’s money and enjoying lively entertainment at his expense. Because he was unknown in such exotic parts of the world, he found no reason to hide his true nature, and thus his white hair hung in a heavy silken curtain adorning his shoulders. A light charcoal colored suit, matching loafers, white business shirt and black tie with a brilliant magenta pocket square completed his look to match his family color.  _

_ Despite having taken the care to dress and leave his comfortable home in this oasis in the dunes, Sesshoumaru was bored. He could feel it in the pit of his stomach, particularly when he began to fantasize about what the room would look like if he broke out a poisonous whip and cut everyone in half, painting the white marble floors in a wash of hot crimson. The warming drink in his hand was placed on a passing silver tray as he began to excuse himself when a deep, feminine voice tickled his ear with a musical roll of laughter.  _

_ Upon the prince’s white adorned lap, sat a woman laughing at something whispered in her ear by the prince. Her hair, white at the roots, midway down to her ears, turned silver, then black at the long ends and was curled and pinned in place so it only graced one side of her regal shoulders. Curiosity had him, particularly when nearly black, brown eyes hooded in humor met his across the room. They warned him of danger for some reason. This woman, mouth painted crimson, pressed a kiss into the prince’s forehead as she slid off his lap in a pair of black stiletto heels only a seasoned model could wear without falling in. The man patted her bottom, leaning forward as though the actions she were about to complete where of interest to him. While the room still had the bubbling of conversation and drinking, groups split before her as she walked by, touching some on the shoulder and wrist until she managed to stand ten feet from him.  _

_ Pocketing his hands he appraised her with the slightest tilt of his head, snuffing at her very human scent, and choosing to turn away from the woman dressed in a long sleeved, black silk gown in favor of leaving before he found himself inconvenienced. He was not about to play an Arab Prince’s little game, dangling carrots before him. Sesshoumaru was down the steps of the ballroom’s main entrance, coming upon the exit when by some odd miracle, the woman he had left wanting appeared at the entrance.  
One arm was crossed beneath her breasts, the other holding up a set of keys to the vehicle he’d driven here in one finger. How she’d beat him to the punch was beyond him, the only possible hint being the absence of those useless heels.  _

_ “I am Masika. Who are you, the prince has invited at his curiosity alone, mystery man?” Her voice was rich, like well brewed coffee or dark chocolate. _

_ “Nobody of consequence.” he answered lightly, sauntering forward. While he was indeed taller than this woman, it wasn’t by much. She was a mere inch away from him, breath smelling of strawberries and champagne being served.  _

_ “I’ve been told to greet you and offer my companionship by our altruistic host. Though, the truth is I am as curious as he about you.” _

_ There was a heat between them, and Sesshoumaru’s boredom had sufficiently been tucked away in favor of finding out just what in this woman’s aura had him wanting to poke at dangerous things.  _

_ “There is nothing to know.” _

_ “A man who wears his hair long? And is so naturally...” her eyes were glazed as she looked over him, her other hand now coming to wind a strand of his white hair between her fingers and rubbing the strands between her fingers. “Beautiful. Your markings... I see a hint of color on your wrists. Are they other places?” _

_ Her question was asked with a barely quirking brow and a lascivious smile.  _

_ “What are you willing to do to find out?” The words were out before he could stop himself. She dangled the keys to rattle them. _

_ “Let us find out together.” She answered, straightening as his fingers closed slowly over her finger to take his keys. Her mouth came nearly to his, and he could almost taste the sweetness of her mouth at her nearness. Yes, she would be a welcome distraction from his failures as of late. Pushing away the niggling doubt warning him away in favor of a pure priestess for this dark temptress, he nipped at Masika’s lower lip and pulled away enough to escort her towards his car.  _

__

*  
  
Present

She had indeed been a temptress. It wasn’t until much later, a week or so to be more exact, that he had found out the fruit offered to him was attached to a very unhappy spouse who learned of her indiscretion through the same prince who had offered her in the first place. It had started an unhappy war between he and the family, and any land or financial placings in the country had run dry. She was not punished, so much as welcomed into the Prince’s abode with who she was. Apparently, it helped to be rich of your own merits and looks, with dual citizenship in at least two more financially stable countries. He’d spent a year attempting and failing to mend relations with that side of the globe because of her foolishness. 

She tended to show up at the worst of times in the oddest of places as well. Clearly, she was as well connected as he, because even in the demonic circles he’d formed throughout his time, she traveled comfortably, happily, knowledgeably. It had never been revealed to him  _ why _ she was so dangerous, only that she was able to manipulate men and women to do her bidding. Masika Adel was a viperous woman, and now was indeed the worst possible time for her to show her face. With his relationship with Kagome very, very precarious, he didn’t put it past her to jam her fingers into the situation and make it worse than it was. She had attempted to start such things with Aniah, when they were together after he’d lost Masika in Switzerland, finding him again in Dubai where her connections were better. 

Aniah had already had her fair share of gas lighting and abuse; she could counter Masika’s poisonous tongue without issue of jealousy or anxiety of being left behind, resting comfortably on his assurances. Masika’s manipulations were not a proud moment. The week they had been fucking in his abode, finding new ways to incite pleasure through violence and humiliation, had been darker days he’d only shared in pieces with Aniah, if only to explain where the dark woman was coming from and why she needed to be careful. As the years went by, there were only a small number of women Sesshoumaru considered as partners to alleviate certain needs in companionship. Of the three he returned to, two of them had managed to turn up deceased in one manner or another. One was of demonic origin and therefore hardier to Masika’s plotting, but had made mention to warn him of her.

“My Lord... what shall I do?” Jaken insisted quietly. First Kagome’s odd research side quest, and now Masika... What else could possibly go wrong...?

Sesshoumaru sighed. 

“Contact Adel, let her know we are busy today and unable to fit her in to see her and she will be contacted presently for an official meeting. Ask the nature of her visit. I will see to Kagome myself.” He finally answered. Jaken bowed and scurried about Sesshoumaru’s business. He dialed Kagome’s number and waited.

“Hello?” 

“I have been informed you visited the Library. May I ask what you were looking for?” 

She was silent for far longer than he anticipated. 

“Nothing really, I was just.. You know how I get around books!” She laughed nervously. 

His eyes narrowed. Was she.. Why was she hiding her research?

“Indeed. You positively drooled over the books in my study. Though if you needed ghostly references or information regarding demons, my knowledge is always out your disposal.” His gentle prodding was met with a drawn out silence before she cleared her throat.  
“I just didn’t want to take of time you could be using to catch up on your writing. I haven’t heard a new episode of your podcast in a long time.” She said, voice tight. She was deflecting, and Sesshoumaru’s patience was thinning. He would afford her one more opportunity before he went to her apartment himself and tortured the information out of her, hand by pleasurable hand. 

“Was there something new in the scroll we didn’t catch? I do not recall mention of jikininki in the arti-” 

“Shit! Shit I forgot, I have the door guy coming! I gotta go!”  _ Click. _

Sesshoumaru glared at his phone for a long moment before tucking it in the the pocket of his jeans. So she wanted to do this the hard way? Very well. He was always game. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit *  
> I feel foolish - I haven't been thanking my readers at the end of my last chapters!  
> Please remember every review is read over meticulously and deeply cherished. Thank you for reading, bless you for reviewing!  
> All my love,  
> ECCougar


	16. The Outcome of Panic

Kagome spent a large portion of her time in the library frustrated with one manuscript after another. By the time she was finished, she was sitting in a large section of the rug with a pile of books and a table of scrolls. Every script detailed the monster, but nothing beyond basics of the jikininki. There was nothing detailing how it possessed, the effects of the possession, only the end where the human body died and was reborn a jikininki. The only thing that bothered her was the human still seemed to be present even after the body experienced death. The few cases she could find would plead with a priest to commit a proper burial service so the human soul could find peace. This probably mean by blessing the body the soul was able to escape and the body was consecrated against demonic use somehow, as the jikininki’s eating of human bodies. 

She’d left the Library of Souls, dejected and unsure of herself. Her companion had been unusually silent, but she felt the lingering sense of glee from the creature as she hauled herself back inside her apartment. Kagome locked the door and turned, planting her back on the door and sliding down to sit hard on the floor in front of it. There was a feeling of despair deep down she couldn’t shake. It was a foreign feeling, especially as she had a tendency to be a ‘glass-half-full’ kind of person. Her phone vibrated in her pocket and she answered without checking the name.

“Hello?”

“I have been informed you visited the Library. May I ask what you were looking for?” Sesshoumaru’s warm honeyed tone flooded her ears and was like sweet music

“Nothing really, I was just.. You know how I get around books!” She laughed nervously, wondering if the little green imp had already tattled on her. 

“Indeed. You positively drooled over the books in my study. Though if you needed ghostly references or information regarding demons, my knowledge is always out your disposal.” 

Did he know? Maybe she should tell him what she was dealing with. An edge of panic razored over her senses and she immediately shot down the idea.  
“I just didn’t want to take of time you could be using to catch up on your writing. I haven’t heard a new episode of your podcast in a long time.” Kagome was hoping the growing sense of dread wasn’t showing in her voice.

“Was there something new in the scroll we didn’t catch? I do not recall mention of jikininki in the arti-” 

_ He knew. _

“Shit! Shit I forgot, I have the door guy coming! I gotta go!”

Kagome hastily hung up the phone and curled in on her self, sliding the phone away from her. How was she going to tell Sesshoumaru she was being possessed by a jikininki? That for being a priestess, she was defiled enough to have a spirit of malcontent dwelling in her that made her selfish and horrible by all accounts she’d read so far. The jikininki remained quiet and pleased, probably well fed as she longed for the warmth of his embrace to make this baleful collection of negative feelings go away. If she was to believe what she’d been told, pairing with him at all was a reflection of selfishness, and she would need to figure out how to remove the spirit on her own. 

Dread and panic gave way to depression, and in the whirlwind of everything she’d been dealing with the last month, she curled up on her side and cried. 

*

It was a couple days after that Kagome was working from her office, shuffling between an eery sense of foreboding and panic, that she stumbled across a hastily written text that was scrawled on a note somewhere in the depths of the web she’d been searching in between work documents. Her health was declining, and she could feel her body weakening. 

There wasn’t much she could do about it - for some reason, even eating became a chore. Sleeping was iffy, if only because she’d be awoken by nightmares and plagued by apprehensions that were beyond her understanding. In turn, the sheer amount of stress had her entire body singing with tension and her belly turning over at even the idea of consuming food. The only thing she was able to keep down was caffeine laden drinks, and even then only in small amounts. Printing it out, the information she’d stumbled upon had her stomach clenching in panic and dismay, even though the smallest spark of hope was budding. This looked more like an unfounded theory, but it was worth paying attention to. The author was unknown, but it had been found in the proximity of a supposed jikininki when it was exercised. It briefly touched on how the human side of the body was still able to take minute control of the deadened body outside of the jikininki, which is where many of the stories of old came from.. but held a darker note. That there was a human soul sharing the dead body, everything done and consumed was still felt. And that human greed was not the only way the jikininki could take control of a body. 

The anxiety fluttering Kagome was so bad it made her feel sickly as she read the lines before her, trembling uncontrollably. 

“Kagome?”

The jump his voice produced had her hitting her thighs on the desk and slapping her laptop closed on her fingers, making her cry out in pain. 

“Shit!” She yelped, irritation and upset coursing through her on top of tear-inducing anxiety. Sesshoumaru’s face was mired with concern. 

“What?!” She snapped. 

“You.. seemed upset. I was checking in on you as you have been unusually quiet.” His tone was soft, almost like he would address a doe about to bolt. He wasn’t wrong - surely, if he still had the same sensitive nose as he had back then, he’d know she was upset just by the stress hormones in the air. She was practically vibrating with it. The fact she’d pretty much gone AWOL for two days with nothing but the occasional text was probably not a great thing to put him through either. 

“Sorry, just.. work stuff. Still dealing with a few personal issues brought on by all of...” she threw her finger back and forth between them as a reference, “This.”

If he was irritated at the comment, he didn’t show it. Instead, he leaned against the frame of her office and folded his arms before him.

“When are you going to tell me that which is truly bothering you?”

The weight of everything settling on her was exhausting. According to what she had just been reading, the jikininki influenced it’s hosts emotions, driving them to an early grave. The victim noticed a violent mood shift taking place while being possessed before dying that did not help their situation, and pulled the trigger on themselves after being tormented beyond their ability to hold out against it. Even in regular life, keeping secrets was draining and hard. It always eventually came out of her one way or another; so instead of beating her head against a wall by herself, she decided she’d rather take a chance on Sesshoumaru overreacting than her human body to a malicious spirit rooting for her death. Kagome’s stomach bottomed out as she came to this decision, and her anxiety skyrocketed again. Heart pounding, she lurched forward and snatched her empty trash can, retching what little coffee she had managed to drink today into it.

Her eyes slid shut and she gripped the can with both hands, wanting to cry again with the overwhelming nature of her emotions.

“I think I’m being possessed by a jikininki.” She finally said through the awful bile breath she had. The air moved around her and her chin was tilted upward as he wiped the corners of her mouth with a handkerchief he’d produced out of nowhere. His features were placid, dropping the used kerchief in his pocket before tilting her face one way then the other as he looked over her.

“Why do you think this?”

She felt her heart pound hard again and her stomach rolled. She groaned, but took a few cleansing breaths trying to bid her body to listen to her will as a cackle rolled through the back of her mind.

‘Silly bitch.’ she heard.

“Because I can hear it. It told me what it was, but not how it got in. Not exactly any way...” 

‘We did tell you. You didn’t listen.’

“I can hear it now, just sitting here. And I think it’s messing with my emotions.”

There was a strain in his reaction, as careful as it was especially when he spoke again.

“And you are sure it had nothing to do with what happened with Danske?” His voice was low, growling. “It is understandable if you are projecting -” 

Kagome’s glare stopped his train of thought instantly.

‘More lies from the mouth of the mutt of the West. Silly bitch lay under him, being fooled.’ The grating laugh of the jikininki was beginning to drive her out of her mind. 

“Does this look like emotional projection? I was sure of what I wanted three days ago. Why would I have anything to doubt?”

‘Because the whelp still hides truths. So many truths. The Western Whelp is ripe with secrets.’ 

“SHUT UP.” She felt another gut wrenching wave of panic flood her and she fought back the nausea it was causing. Shaky as a foal, she managed to stand with an iron grip on Sesshoumaru’s hand.

“I just came across some information that leads me to believe the spirit is manipulating my emotions and trying to use what happened between the three of us to push me to do and feel horrible things.” She sat back in her chair with Sesshoumaru’s help.

“I didn’t want to tell you because it sounds crazy.” She glanced in irritation at him briefly before slipping her hands over her face and scrubbing. “I sound like a lunatic. Clearly. Or you wouldn’t have just said that.” 

Part of her wished she’d not told him; but the other was glad not to feel the strain of secrets weighing on her chest. 

“I’ve been trying to figure out how I came into contact with the stupid thing, even though it insists it’s seen me before. And the other reason I hesitated to tell you is it sounds like its feeding off of our combined energies. I was trying to stay away from you until I could figure out exactly what is happening to me before I put you in harms way.”

Sesshoumaru’s scoff from beside her has her craning to see his still placid face. 

“Harms way..” he chuckled before looking down at her serious face and schooling his expression. “I am pleased you have told me without the need for more drastic measures even if a little disappointed my original plans for information extraction are moot; but I understand not wanting to give such a thing a rise. Perhaps it is time to visit my private stock. The jikininki is far more powerful than we suspected in the original stories. The monk you traveled with suffered the same affliction; yet it held no bearing on his nearly always pregnant wife.” 

Kagome’s heart stilled.

“Miroku?” 

Sesshoumaru ruminated for a moment, and nodded.

“Of course, Monk Miroku. The original author of the documents. He should be able to assist with this problem, as he is the resident expert.”

Kagome could feel the restlessness of the spirit in her like nails on a chalkboard grating inside of her. They had ticked on information it clearly did not like. It also piqued Kagome’s curiosity. According to the legends, Miroku was a prime candidate for the jikininki. She wasn’t blind to Miroku’s tendencies towards a more materialistic nature, and while he had companions to keep him better grounded as a priest when she still walked with them, sometimes he could be a handful for the quiet Sango. Though, as Kagome recalled, Sango did have a heavy hand where he was concerned. There were many questions surrounding the couple, and Kagome was still not sure if she was ready to face the history of her beloved friends. 

Sesshoumaru reminded her to grab the gloves she’d mentioned so she could better study the artifacts still at his writing den, but when they arrived back at his home, it was not where they were headed. There was another portion of his home that dove deep underground in one of the adjacent side homes. The walk down was as fascinating as the rest of his home - the stairs leading to a larger portion of an underground bunker of sorts where the tree’s roots were a part of the home itself. She could see a tangle of them up above the ceiling where there were concrete walls of carefully guarded items, some behind thick panels of glass embedded in the concrete around them. Sesshoumaru wandered for a moment around the bunker, tapping the panels to make their contents light up before he finally found one he was looking for. 

He pushed on the panel, and it gave a moment before a hiss and click sounded, and the lock for the glass panel released. Drawing a small but thick bound paper book that looked aged, Sesshoumaru thumbed through the contents briefly before looking up and handing it to Kagome. 

“The Priest detailed his experience here, feeling it was important for clarity’s sake that it be documented. He had heard of a case where such a creature was plaguing a village and went to investigate, unwittingly taking on the spirit himself after consecrating the village himself.” 

Kagome was still trying to process the fact she was holding a piece of history written by Miroku. The worn pages were not broken, but faded around the edges as though they had been ravaged by reading. 

“Please tell me you have copies of this made just in case.”

Sesshoumaru nodded. 

“Though this is the original. I do believe there are at least four copies, one for each demon lord’s personal collection. One copy resides with me in another secure location, and the original is in your hands. It is my understanding and remembrance that you were close with the Priest and his Wife, Slayer Sango; I felt you may appreciate holding what he held versus a copy on cheaply overproduced paper.”

Kagome did appreciate it. The weight of Miroku’s knowledge was heavy in her hands. She wanted to hug the thing to her chest, but didn’t want to harm the book by over handling it. 

“How did you know this was something he was struggling with, Sesshoumaru?” She asked as she began turning pages carefully, realizing that this book was not just the jikininki’s experience - this was a diary of Miroku’s life written in his careful handwriting. 

“There were times where I was away for long periods, and would come back around to check on Rin and her children. One such time, she was concerned for the Priest, having noticed in his age he was rapidly becoming more sickly. Upon closer investigation, he admitted to being possessed by a spirit he’d come across traveling in another village, and was having trouble exorcising.”

Kagome chewed her lip. If Miroku and Sango were having problems with it, it followed that she was going to have to struggle with it as well. 

“Would you mind if I went through this?”

Sesshoumaru shook his head.

“So long as it stays here in the vault, it is fine.”

Kagome frowned, looking at the thick volume of pages.

“I’m a fast reader, but I’m not sure if I can get through all of this in one day.”

“It is at your disposal. Security measures for this are require me to escort you down here, but that is easily arranged. You may stay here until it is finished, even if it means spending the night.”

She nodded, already ingrained in Miroku’s dealings. The first couple of pages were dedicated to describing Sango, pretty standard and very colorful in verbage, some sentences making Kagome smile and laugh. If Sango knew his writing would follow him this far into the future, she was pretty sure she would have burned the book while she could. Especially when Miroku fawned over his wife always bringing home ripe juicy melons, firm and filled with milk when she was expecting their second child. Kagome laughed out loud as she headed to sit over on a large armchair, nose firmly planted in Miroku’s diary and forgetting where she was as she read on. She sighed through another ridiculous description after another until hours later she perked up. The village Miroku had visited with symptoms matching the jikininki were coming up.

~*~

While Kagome studied the priest’s diary, he quietly excused himself and answered Nina’s call.

“Daddio, we need to do a recording. Its been too long. Tell me you have something worth recording.”

“I believe I do.”

“Excellent. Also, I had a request for a collaboration with you. I’ll be over in about half an hour, ‘kay Dad?”

Sesshoumaru sighed but agreed. In the meantime, he fixed more tea and honey so his voice was well prepared and read over the latest chapter while he waited for Nina to arrive. By the time she did, he’d pulled his hair back and was comfortably established in his own little groove on the couch in the writing den. He had wisely installed a hidden recording booth in his office for when they were unable to record in the studio; the only reason it wasn’t used as often as the studio was because there was only so much money he was willing to spend before something paid for itself - so the recording booth in his home was not nearly as sound proof as the professional studio. 

He’d finished his reread and had picked up a particularly fun, violent harlequin when Nina’s boisterous voice resonated through the thick wooden doors of his writing den.

“Yeah, I seriously believe adding your voice to the mix would bring on a whole new set of fans flocking. If we can establish a male presence in the fandom, we’d be infallible - I love it. You have that sandy, smokey voice to boot. You’ll be perfect And you said he knows you, right? I’m pretty sure we’ll be fine!” Nina exclaimed, strutting in with a tall, familiar stranger on her arm whose eyes fell on him with hooded intent aimed at him like throwing knives. 

“I’m sure he’ll be surprised. Won’t you, Lord Sesshoumaru?” Masika’s pleased tone sent an unpleasant drip of disdain down his spine. 

“To say the least, Adel. Nina, what is this woman doing in this one’s house?” His tone was chilled enough Nina paused. He could see her grip on Masika’s arm droop and retract. 

“Masika Adel is a prominent internet figure, I thought we could.. Do a collab with her.. Using her voice ..” Nina, usually proud and full of confidence even with Sesshoumaru began to scoot forward. She may not have been raised solely by dogs, but her body language was reading the way it should - penitent and unsure. Masika, however, was as haughty as she ever was. The woman stood her full, matching height and taller in a pair of platform stiletto boots that raised her off the ground at least another two inches and stopped above her knee in soft, molded dark brown leather. Her hair was the same as it ever was - long enough to flair around her hips, with a shaggy framing set of white bangs that continued its color until it turned ash gray around four inches from the bottom and then turned pitch black. Bangles adorned her dark skin, large golden hoops framed her face, rings of gold and turquoise on manicured long black fingernails and a body hugging dress that barely made it to the tops of her thighs told him everything about her intentions here, in the event the darkness behind her eyes didn’t.

Masika had come to claim a prize she firmly believed was hers. And Sesshoumaru was not interested in playing games. 

“It is this one’s assumption that you intended for Masika to read the role of Kora?” 

Nina nodded with a swallow. 

“I was under the impression she had already set up a meeting with you and was welcome in the house, dad.” 

“Your attendant Jaken was processing the request.” Masika said softly, arms now folding before her in the leather jacket she wore over her white mini-dress. “Though the collaboration sets me in the home before the actual meeting does. I had hoped perhaps if the collab was approved, we could forgo wasting your attendant’s time. You have a beautiful home, Lord Sesshoumaru.” 

She was already walking slowly in, studiously as she looked around at all the books in the small room. Sesshoumaru could sense his demonic aura spiking in irritation, and clearly, Masika did too. This was not something he wanted Kagome to walk in on, and being a guest in his home, it was possible it would be unavoidable if she were staying. Perhaps the best remedy was to finish the session as quickly as possible and kick both of them out of the house. 

He glanced over Nina, who was still unsure of herself, and felt drawn to comfort the cub. She knew nothing about his time with Adel, and he could not fault her for unknowingly bringing a viper into his home. If he trusted her with his business and helping him in his creative content, he would trust her insistence that it would help... Cautiously. Eyeing Masika’s wandering form as he spoke, he addressed Nina.

“Come Nina. We will record a session with Adel, but it will not be a live session so it may be edited if it does not meet the standard. We can call it a special, tag Adel, and call it.” He paused, still watching Masika as she turned with a muted smile and hooded eyes. “As I have a guest today, we must make it short and sweet. This Sesshoumaru trusts you can read adequately?”

This barb was directed at Masika, who let out an amused huff.

“Well enough, Lord Sesshoumaru.”

As always, her voice was deep, rich, and maddeningly unaffected by his frigid tone. He motioned for the two ladies to follow him into his study and went to a blank wall. He stroked the back of one of the large dog-shaped bookends atop his desk and the wall gave a loud click before sliding back a few inches, then to the side until it opened wide. The station was small, had its own set of equipment Nina was familiar with. 

“When did you have this built, daddio? I don’t remember seeing funds allocated to a project like this?” Nina’s wide eyes drank in the equipment with glee, forgetting the brief stint of his fury with her already.

“We had it built quietly so as to surprise you with it at a later date. I know you owed a friend favors, and you seemed pleased using the one downtown, so we never objected.” 

She spun on one heel and plowed into him, squeezing his middle. He couldn’t help the tugging smile at the corner of his lips as he brushed a hand down the back of her blonde head. 

“Thanks daddio. You’re the greatest.”

His eyes flicked up to see Masika enter, and the first bit of surprise tone her features. 

“I was unaware you had a daughter, Sesshoumaru.”

“Lord.” He corrected, patting Nina’s head as she skirted around him and began dropping her jackets and bags to begin the process of tuning everything to her liking. “And we have had two, though I do not recall this being any of your business.”

She feigned hurt.

“So hostile, my Lord. One would think I slighted you in a past life.” Her honeyed tone matched her still very calm features. “Shouldn’t we let the past be bygone?” 

Sesshoumaru opted not to answer. If Aniah were here, she would probably make use of her boxing knowledge and beat the shit out of Masika. He couldn’t help but chuckle at their first and very last interaction. 

*

_ Sesshoumaru hauled Aniah off the tall woman, who was panting with barely concealed rage as she clawed and screamed for Sesshoumaru to let go of her.  _

_ “GAHDAMMIT SHE THINKS SHE CAN TALK TO ME LIKE THIS? TO YOU? FUCK HER!” Aniah raged. Blood dripped down his forearms as Aniah scratched at him, positively roiling in his grip as he moved farther away from Masika. _

_ “You would do well to leave before she tries to kill you, Adel. And believe me. She will.”  _

_ Masika wiped the blood from her lower lip where Aniah had backhanded with the back of one hands and slowly rose.  _

_ “Be glad for his strength, ya shar-moo-ta. You were blessed with life this day.” Sesshoumaru barely restrained a shudder at her words, even as she gathered herself and gave Aniah a blazing glare over her shoulder.  _

_ “I’ll be back for what I’m owed, My Lord. Count on it.” _

_ Aniah screamed at her again, a fresh set of flailing as Masika walked calmly out the door. Sesshoumaru only released Aniah when the house servant gave in the subtlest nods that Adel was well and truly gone. Aniah spun, her braids slapping his skin angrily as she shook her finger in his face. _

_ “Either we leave, or I leave. I don’t care how this rolls, but I’m not about to be talked to like I’m worthless again, and that bitch should know better than to talk that way in front of you. Neither of us are her property. She can’t tell you who’s you are, Sesshoumaru. YOU taught me that. This is bad jubes, Sessh, and we need to duck out before - ”  _

_ He silenced her with a finger to her lips that almost agitated more yelling from her, but the blood rolling down his wrist seemed to cow her into silence. _

_ “The tickets were purchased minutes before she arrived. We are leaving.”  _

_ Aniah’s breathing began to settle and her anger was slowly abating. Regret took ahold of her eyes as she realized the damage she’d done to his arms. _

_ “I’m sorry. I didn’t even realize... I’m sorry, Sessh. You didn’t deserve those.” She went about looking for a rag as Sesshoumaru watched her busy herself with anything besides remembering Masika’s threats, empty as they were for him. It was not so much the threat, but the principle, and for Aniah to already be so close to a relationship wallowed in mental abuse when she’d just come from one of physical and mental abuse was pulling a hair trigger on her defensive side. He let her quibble over his arms, already healing from her little scratches and sat back, wasting time before they had to be at the private runway to escape Dubai.  _

*

He eyed the dark woman, knowing she was stalking him. Knowing she insisted on her prey, wanting a repeat of what she’d done to him in the days he allowed her to have it. It bothered him that any creature should have any kind of hold over him, and the more it tagged the back of his mind, the more he wondered if perhaps he was overdue in finding someone with the skill to steal back what she had taken without his permission. 

“You ready, Daddio?” Nina’s confidence was booming and happy, filling the little space once more like she usually did, bright smile and blue eyes brimming with confidence. Sesshoumaru felt a muscle jerk in his cheek but he nodded once.

“How would you prefer we do this?”

“Well I was thinking you could make a copy of what was written, then we could highlight her reading portions for Kora’s voice. Is that okay with you?” 

Sesshoumaru nodded, and turned to go about making copies of the written pages today. The woman’s incessant presence followed him about like a sulking shadow, always barely in the corner of his peripheral vision. Choosing to ignore her, treat her like she was as merely a stationary object that happened to have a pulse as it followed him around would eventually piss her off enough to coerce her into admitting what she was doing here. It took another twenty minutes of silence before he was finished with the additional part. He looked up from his work and found Masika leaning over on his desk, sans her jacket. The tight cut of her dress heaved firm, heavy breasts upwards, and her splayed hands as she leaned towards his work, reading it quietly was distracting. 

Sesshoumaru knew he wanted Kagome Knew that she was the one that knew all of him, the best and worst parts. This did not stop him from finding companionship in other places before her; and the woman standing before him was the closest second to partner he was willing to admit to nearly taking. Love was not what they had. Understanding was. Not so much understanding he was an ageless demon lord who had grown into humanity; no, it was purely a physical match that Sesshoumaru reveled in with her, one that needed no explanation and was met with no qualms of any kind, and was addictive enough that he had only given into her demands once a couple years after Aniah’s violent protest. It ended immediately with guilt and shame that he was weak enough to feel the need to go back to something that seemed so unnecessary in hindsight, and was just as good a reason as any other to throw himself back into his work and assume a human identity so she stopped following and finding him. 

Kagome’s sweetness was a breath of fresh air. Pure and wholesome, even if it was naive at times. Beautiful in her own right, never assuming, and didn’t require certain attentions to know he was enthralled with her easy going beauty. The fact she was clear certainty she could function without his help in the way she moved about her life was one of the biggest turn-ons Sesshoumaru found in the women he enjoyed. That Kagome had been such a woman and stayed such a woman even in modern times... Sesshoumaru exhaled slowly, trying to ease the reaction she inspired with meditation. 

“Nina will coach you accordingly. She draws the final cut, if it makes it past me.” He growled, shoving the papers over the desk and rising to enter the recording booth. 

“Your choice of hobby is... surprising. Have you always written like this?” She inquired, sauntering in after him. 

Again, he ignored her queries and looked to Nina who was still fiddling with knobs and had her headphones wrapped around her neck.

“Go ahead and enter the booth with Masika. If we want to do this quickly, it’ll go faster if I tune all of this shit at the same time.”

He nodded and looked to Masika, who entered the booth at his behest and shut the door behind them.

“She doesn’t know anything about me. As I knew nothing of her. A daughter? You had her when we were together, didn’t you? She’s far older than our relationship.” Masika wasn’t looking at him, merely down at the script provided for her. Sesshoumaru continued to stay silent, refusing to answer questions of personal nature. 

“Alright, Daddio I need you to start reading the first paragraph of what you’ve got. I’ll have Masika do the same once I have you balanced and see where everything falls, okay?” 

“Very well.” 

Sesshoumaru began reading, finishing the paragraph painlessly and receiving no interruptions. Once he was finished, Masika looked through the glass pane of the booth at Nina, who pointed at her to read. She nodded her white head of hair and read in a slow, steady tone. Every second grated, drawn out like it was an eternity of time. Per Nina, everything was balanced and it was time to do the recording itself. Sesshoumaru let the last image of Kagome, nibbling her bottom lip with her hair tucked over one ear and eyes glistening as she read the Priest’s diary left to him for safekeeping, flow through his mind. Imagined her peaceful lean back on the couch of his bunker, the black skirt he was imagining on her riding higher up her thigh, warm long sleeved pullover lazily leaning off one stately shoulder as one bare foot dangled from the couch and the other leaned over her thigh. Her look of tranquility as she nibbled at her pinky while she read, flipping from one page to another in the low light of his bunker... And he was ready to record. 

To his dismay, being trapped in the booth with Masika was worse than he thought. He knew his voice was tightening, and the disproving looks from Nina as well as pausing in the direction to remind him to keep it loose and warm didn’t help. He nearly snarled, which worked for the moment as he was reading Desmond’s voice, when her hip brushed his. His irritated glance over showed she wasn’t looking at him, was simply swaying in time with his tone. Whether she had done it by accident or not didn’t matter. This room was too small, too warm. If this didn’t end soon, he would be having to burn this place down to hide the blood stuck in to the crevices of the walls. Every inadvertent touch she made, suggestion in her tone, any time she looked up he could feel his beast beginning to rile more and more. The angrier Sesshoumaru became, the harder it was to focus on what he was doing. 

At some point, they finally ended the session and Nina shook her head as they walked out of the booth. 

“You’re off your game, Sesshoumaru. Masika did pretty good, but you were all over the place.” she sighed in frustration. “We’re not getting this out tonight. You’ll have to redo your parts tomorrow and I’ll paste all this together afterwards to see what it sounds like. I think I’m gonna bounce now. Pub is back in full swing if you wanna grab a beer?”

Sesshoumaru shook his head. 

“As I mentioned before, I am entertaining.”

Nina’s smile became mischievous. 

“Oh yeah? Same person that trashed the pub before?” She waggled her brows, and Sesshoumaru’s narrowed eyes had her fleeing out the door with raucous laughter and a trailing “LOVE YOU!”

The moment the door closed behind her was when Masika leaned against the doorframe of the office. 

“Entertaining... Another woman? Shall I be jealous? Or will she make the same pretty picture the others did with us?” Masika all but purred. 

“Whom resides in our domicile is none of your concern.” 

“I assume you are still upset with the photos.” She inspected her nails, thinking she was hiding the glee in her statement by looking distracted before pushing off the wall and slinking towards him, stinking of the desire for sex. 

“Among other things.” 

Sidling up to him, drawing a line down the front of his dark blue shirt with one long, sharp black nail, Sesshoumaru refused to flinch against the pain of it digging harshly into his chest. Instead he grabbed her fist and yanked it away to the side, pulling her unsteadily off her balance in her ridiculous shoes. She laughed, an edge of manic in it as she giggled wildly with her body swaying in his grip. 

“Of course, sweet boy.” her tone was breathless and happy and a switch was flicked behind her eyes as the happy smile was replaced by a darkness he knew too well. “Do wrap that beautiful hand around my throat and end my life.” 

Sesshoumaru’s upper lip curled into a snarl and he could feel the rumbling of a growl bubbling from his chest. 

“Go fuck yourself.”  
“For far too long, daddy. Please punish your little one.” 

His free hand shook with unfettered rage, frustration. She held the keys to his humiliation, and he hated having anything, especially this in someone else’s hands. Seeing red, he didn’t notice as his free hand crept up around her throat, grasping tighter, tighter. If only he could feel the snap, if only he could deposit the body, and not a soul would come looking for her. Even her body shook with his hand around her neck, and he was just ounces away from the pressure needed to snap her neck, when a soft voice pulled him out of his misery. 

“Sesshoumaru...?”

It was akin to being jolted out of his stupor like lightning. His hands dropped Masika, who fell to her knees in a heap before him coughing. 

“What are you... doing?” There was hurt laced in her voice, and when he finally brought himself to look at her, it as written all over her face. He wanted to answer, but for some reason his mouth wouldn’t work to form the words. When the woman on the floor slapped it, giggling like a psychopath, Kagome shook her head, brows furrowed at him as she took a step back. Sesshoumaru matched it, and he could sense her fight flight response triggering. When she took another step back, he knew he’d either have to kill the woman laughing on the floor or bolt after the one preparing to flee. 

She mattered more. Kagome mattered more. 

And as she turned to run out the door, he followed just slow enough he could leave the twisted heap of human ruin on the floor of his study, laughing at his misfortune at her fucking hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews and reads are like jasmine tea paired with honey - sweet and soothing. Thank you for taking the time, Daisy, Monique, sakura, blackangel, and Emari!  
> As always, constructive criticism is welcome so I may become a better writer!  
> Thank you for reading!


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